Girl, 3, attacked by dog in Edmonton playground
City animal control officers are investigating after a dog attacked a three-year-old girl in a playground, sending her to hospital for stitches in her lip and near her eye.
The girl was treated at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton.
Ahmed Abdelwahab said his daughter "is full of pain" after a dog bit her on the face on Saturday. The little girl lost a tooth as a result of the attack, he said.
Animal control coordinator Keith Scott said the the dog had no business being near the girl in the first place.
"We have bylaws put in place for a reason," he said. "One of the bylaws is that you don't have dogs that are in a playground, in a schoolyard or in a recreation area. Because that's where young kids are. And this is a perfect situation of having a dog, off-leash, in a playground where there's a number of kids around. And then the child is attacked."
Scott said his office is still trying to gather all the information about what happened. He said he didn't know the breed of the dog.
One of the first steps was to make sure the dog was quarantined immediately, while the investigation is conducted.
"We want to be able to make sure that the dog owner is held responsible," Scott said. "That could be a fine, that could be us going to get a dangerous dog order."
If the dog has a history of attacks, it could be put down, he said.
Abdelwahab said his wife took their daughter and other children from their south side neighbourhood to a nearby playground in Mill Woods.
Scott said he's been told that several children were playing in the playground at the time.
Abdelwahab was at work when he received a phone call from his wife.
"She was out of her mind screaming and she told me, 'Please come, hurry. Maryam got bit by a wild dog.' "
"It felt like a nightmare I didn't want to believe. It was the worst moment in my life."
Abdelwahab wants more than an investigation.
"It's absolute negligence," he said. "I just cannot leave it."
"It's a dangerous animal," he said, calling for the dog to be put down.
CBC unsuccessfully tried to contact the owner of the dog.
Last year in Edmonton there were 536 dog attacks reported, 303 of those were on people. The city's animal control office said 29 people either received stitches or hospital treatment because of a dog attack in 2014.
Correction : A previous version of this story said it was a Great Dane that attacked the three-year-old. This was based on information provided to CBC from the city’s animal control office. The current version includes the corrected information. (Apr 21, 2015 5:46 PM)
