Samantha Mekanak says she’s afraid to let her children go to a nearby park after a dog allegedly attacked her 11-year-old-son over the weekend.
Dante Mekanak had gone out to meet his friends at Tarbutt Park on Saturday. He climbed over hockey boards at the Westfort park, unaware there were dogs in an enclosed rink area. A man and six dogs were on the other side.
The boy was allegedly attacked by a larger dog and required reconstructive surgery on his face at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
The man in charge of the dogs told the child that the dog was not vicious and then left the park without helping the child or giving him any contact information.
Mekanak said her son had only left for 15 minutes before his friend came running to tell her Dante needed help.
“When I saw him coming up the driveway with the neighbour from down the street I just wanted to cry when I saw him,” Mekanak said.
“I panicked because his sweater was all bloody. I was scared. They never had any problems at the park until Saturday. Now I’m not sure if I can let them go alone.”
Paramedics took Dante to the hospital where he received 65 stitches to his face. She said the doctors don’t know at the moment if Dante will need plastic surgery for the scaring.
Mekanak said Dante can’t open his mouth all the way anymore and she has to cut his food into smaller pieces.
“This has been really upsetting,” she said. “This is something that he shouldn’t have had to ever go through. The owner could have had a leash on his dog. I talked to Dante this morning and he now says he’s afraid of dogs. I don’t blame him. The last couple of days he’s been by my side and we’ve rarely been separated.”
Rodney Green, Dante’s best friend, had gone to the park with his cousin to meet up with the other children. The 12-year-old said Dante had jumped the fence and he and his cousin had walked around to the park’s entrance.
He said when he saw the dog on Dante he at first thought he was joking around but soon realized that the situation was very serious.
“He yelled a little bit and I thought he was joking around because he pushed the dog away but then he had blood all down his sleeve,” Rodney said. “I was thinking ‘this can’t be happening.’ This is my best friend and I didn’t think this could really happen. I wish I could have prevented it. I could have gone in there and helped.”
Thunder Bay police followed up with information from the public and found an address where they believed owner of the dogs lived. The 56-year-old man was cooperative with police and was charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm. He was released with a future court date.
Animal Control will be conducting an investigation into the dog.
Police are also reminding pet owners if they’re animals are involved in altercations, they are responsible to stay and give assistance. If they don’t, they are subject to a criminal investigation and an investigation from Animal Control.
