Photo: Sina Weibo

A 2-year-old infant girl, surnamed Tang, who had her right kidney severely injured and her ribs fractured following an attack from a fierce unleashed dog on Monday morning, is in stable condition after an emergency surgery, the local public security bureau in Chongzhou, a county-level city in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday. 

The dog’s owner, also surnamed Tang, has been placed under criminal detention by the local police according to the laws, Sichuan Provincial Department of Public Security confirmed with the Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.

The joint-investigation group in Chongzhou updated the public on Tuesday afternoon that the case is still under investigation.

The attack occurred around 8 am on Monday when the girl and her mother were walking in their residential compound, according to a statement released by Chongzhou Public Security Bureau. 

The mother and the daughter then met a black dog and a white dog on the lawn and the black dog –a Rottweiler – began to fiercely bite the girl, despite of the mother’s attempt to protect the daughter using her own body. 

After the bite, the girl was rushed to hospital at 8:30 am. The girl suffered multiple injures all over her body, contusions and lacerations to the right kidney and fractured ribs. 

A two-minute video clip circulating on the internet showed that the dog mauled the girl for a period of 40 seconds. Before the tragedy, the dog had been wandering alone there for about one minute without the appearance of its owner, the video clip showed. 

The dog bit the child several times until a nearby cleaner and a passerby helped drive away the big dog. 

Rottweiler has been banned in many cities due to its strong physique and swift movement. 

The mother told media on Tuesday that the police had informed her that the black dog had been found and the authorities are still looking for its owner. 

The mother told Jiupai News on Tuesday that her daughter has been transferred to the ICU at the West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu and that she has been in a coma. 

Following an extended period of intensive care, the girl vital signs have become stable. The medical treatment team will improve follow-up medical treatment according to her condition.
Zhu Yuchun, a doctor from the hospital, said that a medical consultation by the experts decided that they will take conservative treatment method. 

According to Zhu, there were more than 20 bites on the right side of the 2-year-old’s body with the longest one measured eight centimeters long. “It was such tremendous shock even to a surgeon with 20 years of experience,” Zhu said in a short video.
 
The local police are investigating the incident and will handle the matter according to the investigation results, promising to make the investigation results public in a timely manner, the statement said. 

Following the incident, employees from the property management department of the compound told media that they had controlled the white dog but the perpetrator black dog was still on the loose. The local subdistrict authority has sent out hundreds of personnel to search for the Rottweiler. 

According to Shangyou News, the white dog, a Labrador Retriever, did not attack the girl and was retrieved by its owner, who lives in a neighboring compound. 

Many residents living in the compound and online netizens criticized the dog owner who did not keep the dog on leash and accused the property management department of failing to fulfill their responsibility in regulating dog owners. 

With the increasing popularity of domestic pets, dog management regulations have been introduced in various localities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi’an and Qingdao cities. Large fierce dog species, including Rottweiler, Tibetan Mastiff, German shepherd and Akita, are all banned. And there are rules and regulations on vicious dogs injuring humans in the Civil Code as well as local regulations. 

According to the Civil Code, for fierce dogs prohibited from being kept as pets, owners who violate relevant provisions shall bear strict tort liability.

Global Times