Dog Mauls 10-Year-Old

By Michael Brooks, Staff Writer     Blood-curdling screams and moments of terror disrupted an otherwise peaceful day on Gilbert Road. Ray Sanchez recognized the screams as coming from his 10-year-old son, Slade, who had been playing at a neighbor’s house.     

Sanchez ran to his son, who had been repeatedly bitten by a neighbor’s pit bull while playing at a friend’s house.     

“My son was staying with his dad and his dad let him play at a neighbor’s house,” Slade’s mother Casey Sanchez said. “The neighbor kid was washing off the back porch and my son picked up the dog food bowl. The dog got out and charged at my son. Slade screamed. The neighbor boy was unable to do anything but the mother was able to pull the dog off my son. Slade’s fathers heard the screams and rushed him to the emergency room.”   

Slade was taken to the Jackson County Hospital District Emergency Room and was then transferred to Detar Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Victoria. He was then again moved to Detar Navarro where he underwent surgery.   

“I think this is the worst dog attack on a child we’ve ever had in Edna,” said Edna Police Chief Clinton Wooldridge, who detailed the incident further in a statement.     

“Edna police and Animal Control responded to the Jackson County Hospital for a report of a 10-year-old boy being treated for a dog attack that occurred while the boy was visiting a friend at a home in the 700 block of Gilbert Road.     

“The two friends were playing when the 10-year-old was bitten. The dog, which was not in its kennel at the time of the attack, first bit the boy near its kennel. The dog then attacked the boy a second time as the boy was trying to get away. In the second attack, the dog got the boy to the ground and bit him repeatedly. The young man was transferred from the Jackson ER to a Victoria Hospital for more extensive care,” said Wooldridge.     

Slade had a hospital stay and underwent surgery, but thing are going better now.     

“He is doing okay,” said Casey Sanchez. “He went in to hospital on Monday, November 9 and he got out on Thursday, the 12. He had 23 bite wounds, some four- to five-inches wide. He had to have surgery as opposed to stitches because the incisions were too deep and wide. His left side got it worse but there were bites over both arms and legs.     

“He is on crutches right now. I think it will be a slow recovery because he is in a lot of pain right now. There is no physical therapy involved, it is just a healing process. But we are all thankful it was not on his face.”      

According to Edna Animal Control Officer Susan Strickland, the dog was taken into custody and is currently being quarantined and evaluated for 10 days for any evidence of rabies, per the Texas Department of State Health Services. The dog owners’ names could not be released, but Strickland advised that they are relinguishing ownership of the dog to the authorities.   

 “After the 10-day evaluation period, the dog will be humanely put down,” said Strickland.     

Casey Sanchez said she does not know how the incident will effect Slade in the future.     

“Slade has always been a dog lover, but we don’t know how he will react because he has never encounter anything like that,” she said.