Pitbull utterly tore off a 4-year-old Oklahoma boy’s arm when the kid was trying to pet some puppies at his grandparents’ home, according to his distraught mom.
4-year-old Axel Foster, unfortunately, lost his right arm on Friday night after putting his hand inside a dog pen while being looked after by his grandparent in Tecumseh, police told KFOR.
By the time responding officers arrived at the scene, they had found little Foster waiting outside with his grandmother, with the limb completely missing under the shoulder.
Tecumseh Police Chief JR Kidney told the outlet that the child’s arm was still in the pen, and when officers and animal control attempted to retrieve it, the dog became more aggressive to them.
Aaron McCormick, one of the responding officers, reported that he “could see the arm inside, and one of the puppies was trying to chew on it.” As a result, officers who tried to recover the arm shot and killed one of the dogs, police said.
Foster’s mom, Destiny McDow, said her son was rushed to the hospital, but surgery to reattach the boy’s arm was not successful. She’d earlier written on Gofundme page that her son was “fighting not only to keep his arm but his life,” alluding to an “incident” that occurred when the boy was in his father’s care that led to him being placed with his grandparents for safety.
“How could this happen?” she asked KFOR, saying her son was supposed to be in his father’s care.
Police and city officials are investigating whether the grandparents were supervising their grandchild at the time of the gruesome attack. Otherwise, the unidentified grandparents could face child neglect charges, the police chief said.
“I’m hoping it was simply an accident that the child was able to get to the pen, but we will look at everything,” Kidney said, noting that he had witnessed “some pretty brutal dog bites” before “but never a complete amputation.”
“To be over just an innocent-type thing of wanting to pat some puppies, it’s just devastating,” he said. What kind of Christmas is this child gonna have now? What kind of life, in general, is this child gonna have now?”
