Eight-Year-Old Injured In Vicious Pitbull Attack

An 8-year-old girl from Valdosta, Georgia sustained personal injuries after a run-in with a pair of vicious pitbulls.

On July 16, Harold Yates and his two grandchildren returned to Smith’s Landing after a morning out in his boat on Spring Creek. His grandson, 12-year-old Trey Yates, stayed with the boat while he and the girl, Shelby Yates returned to his truck so that they could load the boat.

According to Yates, as they were walking, a pair of pitbulls suddenly emerged from the bushes barking and advancing upon them. Yates removed his gun from his belt and fired at one of the dogs, missing but scaring it away. The other dog jumped onto the girl, knocked her down, and bit into her left bicep.

Yates began kicking the dog in an attempt to get it off of his granddaughter, before finally shooting the dog to get it to release her. The dog limped away before finally slumping to the ground.

Yates contacted the police and then took his granddaughter to Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge, Georgia where she required 18 stitches to close the wound.

Decatur County, Georgia code enforcer and dog control officer Eddie Alday arrived at the scene of the attack and was unable to locate the dog that had been scared off. He confiscated the body of the dog that bit the girl and brought it to the Health Department for rabies testing.

Yates says that he is angry about the attack and will appear before the Decatur County Board of Commissioners in order to address the need for a dog control ordinance.