Monterey-area girl dies after one of two dog maulings

Published 9:20 a.m. PDT Sunday, April 21, 2002

The boy was taken to the hospital for surgery and was in serious condition. The boy had been bitten on the head, face and torso, and his mother was fighting to get the dog off him when Sheriff's deputies arrived.

The dog turned on the officers and was shot and killed.

The 5-year-old girl, who was from Monterey, had been walking with her grandmother and brother in a field when a lizard startled them Friday afternoon. In the commotion, at least one of the family's two large Rottweilers pounced, biting her head and body, police spokesman Randy Taylor said.

She was immediately taken to the hospital, but died later Friday night.

The grandmother was shaken and couldn't tell authorities whether one or both dogs attacked. "It was spontaneous," said Mike Ventimiglia, a chief at the Monterey Fire Department. "It wasn't like there were mad dogs running about. It was just a freak moment."

That mauling came less than 24 hours after a 5-year-old Salinas girl was attacked by her family's Doberman pinscher.

That girl was mauled so severely Thursday that part of her scalp was pulled from her skull, which the dog also fractured. She was admitted to the intensive care unit at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Thursday in critical condition, but by Sunday was stable and in good condition, according to a hospital nursing supervisor.

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