Girl hospitalized after pit bull attack
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Lawrence, KS (KCTV) — A three-year old little girl from Lawrence is going on 12 days in an intensive care unit for a dog attack that happened in Oklahoma.
The child, Sivya, is expected to be okay and will likely be moved out of intensive care soon. But she’s got a long road to recovery ahead and the long-term effects she could suffer are still unknown.
Sivya lives in Lawrence with her mother, Renee Cook, half the time, and with her father near Tulsa, Oklahoma the rest of the time.
It was at the Oklahoma home, where she was attacked by a pit bull almost two weeks ago.
“What happened was, she moved the dog’s bowl and the dog attacked. This was not just a bite. It was a mauling,” Sivya’s maternal grandmother Jeannie Furst said.
Sivya suffered 15 skull fractures, a broken jaw, broken nose, and severe lacerations to her face.
Furst, who lives in Lawrence, said Sivya had to undergo three surgeries upon arrival to the emergency room. The family is grateful the children’s hospital had a neurosurgeon, orthopedic surgeon, and plastic surgeon on hand when the child arrived.
“They’ve had to put two metal plates into her skull. They had to sew up the membrane around her brain that had been torn and punctured in several places,” Furst said.
The extent of possible brain damage is still unclear, and Sivya will need additional surgery. Her jaw still isn’t fixed.
“We’ve tried really hard not to be spiteful or be really angry. But it is difficult because Sivya is the most wonderful, spunky, just intelligent beautiful young lady,” Furst said.
The dog, who belonged to Sivya’s uncle, was put down Tuesday night after a 10 day quarantine.
Authorities in Oklahoma told the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, KOTV, that it’ll be up the Rogers County District Attorney’s office whether charges will be filed.
“We’ve got a three year old victim here that did nothing wrong. I don’t think we can visualize that she was doing anything wrong for moving a bowl of food away from an animal,” Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said.
The hardest part for Furst is not being able to be in the Tulsa hospital to support her daughter and granddaughter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furst has set up a GoFundMe account to help with her granddaughter’s medical expenses and her daughter’s extended stay in Tulsa away from her job in Kansas.
She hopes this story will make people realize the importance of dog training and keeping a close eye on children around animals.
“Just be careful with your dogs. Be careful with your animals. And be careful with your children. That’s important. Just watch over your kids,” she said.
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