AR-News: (NC) Pit bull attack scars family

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http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/buncombe_news/43297

By Jennifer Brevorka, STAFF WRITEROct. 11, 2003 10:49 p.m.
CANDLER - Dannett Dillingham insists she's no hero. Any mother, she says, 
would sacrifice herself if she could help save her baby.
Dillingham's instincts kicked in when she ran down Gossett Road on Oct. 3 
carrying a tree limb, hoping to beat away the 92-pound pit bull that had her 
5-year-old son in its teeth.
"Brandon kept on tucking his head down, trying to protect his face," she 
said, lowering her chin to her neck to demonstrate. "And I just started screaming, 
hoping that someone would hear me and help us."
The vicious attack was over in a flash. But it will leave lasting scars for a 
family that has no health insurance and faces a long, expensive recovery.
`Mommy, don't cry' 
The day of the attack, Dillingham was burning trash while keeping an eye on 
her two sons and their friend as the children raced around the yard before 
deciding to go down the street to get marshmallows for toasting on the fire.
Want to help?
The Dillingham family has no health insurance to cover Brandons future 
surgeries or treatment to Dannett Dillinghams injuries. A family friend has set up a 
bank account for the family to help cover medical expenses. Donations to the 
Dillinghams can be made at any Bank of America branch or at Internet Cash in 
the Wal-Mart Shopping Center in Skyland. Checks can be made payable to 
Dillingham Fund.



Brandon and his 3-year-old brother waited for their friend alongside a 
neighbor's driveway so their mother could see them.
Dillingham, a cautious mother, watched her boys walk 15 feet away from her on 
the road. Then she saw a dog jump out of the wooded area directly across the 
street from the boys.
The pit bull knocked Brandon to the ground, clamping down on the boy's face 
with its powerful jaws.
"It just wouldn't let go," Dillingham said.
The dog ripped off the boy's lip and tore through his nose, damaging the 
cartilage. The biting left punctures in the back of Brandon's skull, Dillingham 
said.
"The front of his face was just gone," his mother said. "There was blood 
everywhere."
When she started beating the dog, it lunged at her, attaching its jaws to the 
left side of her chest. At one point, Dillingham said she tried to break free 
by shaking herself as the dog hung on her with its jaws and front paws, its 
back legs off the ground.
The younger son and his friend stood in fear nearby as Dillingham yelled at 
them to run.
"I kept on telling the kids to run back to the house, trying to save them," 
she said. "But they just stood there. They wouldn't leave me alone with the 
dog."
Dillingham doesn't remember much about the attack, or how long it took for 
neighbor David Williams to arrive and save her. But during the attack that 
lasted just moments, the pit bull ripped apart her thigh, back and chest, 
Dillingham said.
"I'm used to hearing the kids scream when they play," Williams said. "I know 
that sound. But her screams sounded different. I knew something was wrong."
Williams grabbed the animal's throat and threw it across the road.
"My intention was to get it off her and have it come after me," he said.
And it did. The pit bull lunged at him, and Williams kicked it in the neck.
By then, the dog's owner, Harland Linville, was out of his house and brought 
his pet inside, Dillingham said.
Linville did not respond to a phone message and letter asking for an 
interview.
Sheriff's deputies and paramedics arrived within nine minutes, and 
Dillingham's adrenaline wore off.
As his mother trembled and cried, her son reassured her.
"He kept on saying, `Mommy, don't cry. I'm OK. I'm OK,'" Dillingham said.
Medicine, chocolate milk and Coke 
Monday, Brandon will face the second of at least four surgeries in the next 
year. A piece of his lower lip will be cut and grafted onto where his upper lip 
used to be.
For two weeks, he'll eat only liquids, unable to talk while his lips are kept 
shut to let the new skin grow into place.
Doctors have told the Dillinghams that Brandon's face will never look the way 
it once did. And, he'll undoubtedly have to undergo more surgeries as his 
face grows and the skin stretches around and on his lips.
Dannett Dillingham last week tiptoed around her home, her hip injuries making 
it difficult to sit. Brandon has seen his new face but isn't quite sure what 
to make of it.
His button nose has two lines of stitches running across each side. His upper 
lip, a bumpy mass of purple and black, is in stark contrast to the remaining 
pieces of pink lip flesh.
Scratches and scabs dot his arms.
"The first time he looked in the mirror, it scared him, and he asked if it 
was his face," his grandmother said. "He says he wants his other mouth back."
After spending two days in the hospital, Brandon came home for a week before 
he returns for Monday's surgery.
For now, Brandon's injuries don't slow him down. He still loves to jump on 
his trampoline, slide around his house in Scooby Doo slippers and romp with his 
father.
"I just love him to death," Williams said of the boy. "He always plays with 
my grandchildren and just loves to run around."
As his mother and grandmother relive the attack, a visitor can occasionally 
hear the squeals of the boy playing with his father and grandfather. His 
grandmother, Joyce Dillingham, attributes Brandon's energy to a mix of medicine, 
chocolate milk and Coca-Cola.
The attack didn't diminish Brandon's passion for dogs either, his mother said.
"He asked me why the dog wanted to bite him," Dillingham said. "And, he 
wanted to know if this dog is going to the devil. But, he still loves watching his 
video `All Dogs Go to Heaven.'"
No help from the law 
Grateful for the prayers they've received from neighbors and friends, the 
Dillinghams know they face a long road ahead.
Dannett Dillingham must go into surgery with the realization that many of her 
wounds will result in disfiguring scars.
And Brandon's surgeries will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the 
family has no health insurance.
Chris Dillingham, Brandon's father, this year left his job of eight years at 
Southeast Industrial to start his own construction firm, Asheville 
Construction Services.
The couple had applied for health insurance for the new firm and its 
employees, Dannett Dillingham said. The week of the attack, the insurance firm had 
sent them more forms to fill out.
Dillingham gathered the additional information and had the envelope stamped 
and sealed, ready to be mailed on Oct. 4, the day after Brandon was attacked.
Representatives of Mission St. Joseph's Health System said they would work 
with family, helping them apply for financial aid from the state and federal 
government or from private sources. In addition, the hospital often provides 
patients with uncompensated care.
But as hospital representatives pointed out, the family will have other 
medical bills for prescriptions, doctors' visits and physical therapy.
While the bills pile up, the Dillinghams focus on other things, such as how 
they can raise awareness in Buncombe County about dangerous animals.
What bothers the family the most, they said, is that there is little recourse 
to prevent an attack such as this one from happening again.
The pit bull that attacked Brandon and his mother was euthanized but only 
because its owner requested it. If its owner had not signed it over to animal 
control, the dog could have continued living at the same house near the 
Dillinghams.
Animal control could have forced the owner to enact protective measures, but 
they could not have euthanized the pit bull.
"Sometimes people live near a vicious dog and they're hesitant to call animal 
control," Joyce Dillingham said. "They want to be a good neighbor. But then, 
animal control has no idea what is going on."
In the case of this pit bull, several neighbors on Gossett Road said the dog 
was vicious and had a reputation as a dangerous animal. But, animal control 
had no record of complaint for the dog.
The Dillinghams were shocked to learn that owners of dangerous dogs that 
attack other animals or people are not often criminally charged.
"If you abuse an animal, it's a felony," Dannett Dillingham said. "But if 
your dog attacks or kills someone else, (often) there's not much you face as far 
as criminal charges."
Contact Brevorka at 232-2938 or JBrevork at CITIZEN-TIMES.com
Changes sought in animal control ordinance 
By Jennifer Brevorka
STAFF WRITER
ASHEVILLE - Stories like Brandon Dillingham's have become all too familiar to 
Shelly Moore, executive director of the Asheville Humane Society.
The recent attack by a pit bull on the 5-year-old is one of several reasons 
she and other Buncombe County animal control officials have asked county 
commissioners to re- evaluate the county's animal control ordinance.
"Ever since I first came here, I've always been fearful that something like 
what happened would occur," Moore said. "And that we're not going to be able to 
do anything with the dog after an attack."
In Buncombe County, there's a need for the investigation of aggressive 
animals, with county animal control workers investigating 453 animal bites and 352 
aggressive dogs in fiscal year 2003, Moore said.
Filled with loopholes and gray areas, the current ordinance allows dangerous 
animals to continue living near people they might endanger, Moore said.
"The ordinance says that if an owner does not comply with the ordinance or 
findings from animal control that we can take custody of the dog," Moore said. 
"But it doesn't tell us what we can do with the dog or what civil remedy exists 
for the owner after the dog is taken."
Under the present statute, if an animal bites someone, or shows signs that 
they are a danger to a person, the county can force an owner to put protective 
measures on an animal such as an escape proof pen or a muzzle. But, this is 
only if the animal is reported to animal control.
Unless an owner signs a dangerous animal over to the county, or repeatedly 
violates protective orders, the county cannot euthanize dangerous animals.
The pit bull that attacked Brandon and his mother, Dannett Dillingham, was 
euthanized, but only because its owner asked that the animal be killed, Moore 
said.
The county's current ordinance also allows dogs to go without a leash, as 
long as the owner can control the pet with their voice. And this lack of a leash 
law, Moore said, creates more opportunities for animals to bite people.
"And in reworking the current ordinance, I think we need to look at the 
factors that contribute to dangerous dogs," Moore said.
Commissioners on Tuesday, agreed to examine suggested changes for the 
ordinance in the coming months.
While the immediate urge might be to push for tougher regulations, board 
Chairman Nathan Ramsey said officials need to remember that this can be a very 
emotional issue with people.
"Often times people required by animal control to enact protective measures 
for animals can't afford them," Ramsey said. "And often these problems we hear 
about with dogs are people problems, not animal problems."
Dannett Dillingham knows that county leaders need to weigh a variety of 
issues before changing the ordinance, but hopes they remember her son's injuries 
when changing the ordinance.
"We want the ordinance to be changed so people will be held responsible for 
their dog's actions," Dillingham said. "There needs to be a way to prevent this 
from happening again."
Contact Brevorka at 232-2938 or JBrevork at CITIZEN-TIMES.com.



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