Dog Bite Debate Continues As Mom Declines Interview

ABC-7 is learning more about the little girl bitten by a dog who had to be euthanized.

At the same time, angry reaction continues to hit the station’s email and kvia.com Facebook page.

ABC-7 was scheduled to speak with Destiny Saenz’s mother Wednesday before University Medical Center officials intervened. So we returned to the neighborhood to see what neighbors knew about this unfortunate incident, which has everybody talking.

“I just know the dog’s name and that sometimes he got a little vicious,” said 14-year-old Joseph Lucero, who lives six houses away from where the incident took place. “I was always afraid to walk down there because I thought he was going to jump over. He tried to jump over the gate every time he saw a dog or a person walk by.”

According to a source close to the situation, Destiny was at a party in the garage of her aunt’s house on Tierra Rica street. She then rode her scooter down the street to a friend’s house and rang the doorbell. When no one answered the door at her friend’s house, that’s when the source says Destiny apparently walked up to the side gate and was bit by the dog.

“I just feel bad because the dog was probably just barking to protect its area, which all dogs are known to do when they’re in the backyard,” said Susan McGill, who lives across the street. “I can’t imagine it would have tried to jump over. Maybe the little girl came up and tried to pet it, the dog took offense or maybe she just spooked the dog.

McGill said she has dogs and the incident concerns her.

“I don’t know what they would do,” she said. “They might play with children if children came around but I would never take a chance and let kids come without knowing the dog. I wouldn’t want a child approaching my fence, because who knows what might happen.”

Destiny’s mother did tell ABC-7 that she knew the kids who live at the home where the dog was, but it was unclear to her whether Destiny knew the dog.

After several children on the street told ABC-7 they were afraid of the dog, several others on the street said they were not afraid of the dog.