A 3-year-old girl in Louisiana could no longer smile after her family’s pet dog suddenly snapped and devoured it in her toddler’s face, her mother said.
Slidell’s little Emily Roark was rushed to the hospital on March 16 after an animal attack, Rebecca Bolin said on a GoFundMe set up to help cover medical costs.
The toddler suffered muscle damage and required stitches under his eyes and near his mouth. Doctors said she couldn’t smile or eat on one side of her face and her tear ducts may have been damaged as well.
Emily will need multiple reconstructive surgeries in the future, his mother added.
Bolin said Emily was “gently petting” a 3-year-old dog named Tater Tot. Daily Mail reported.
The dog got caught in the girl’s face and shook her violently from side to side. According to the outlet, the dog eventually let go of its grip, but not before “swallowing” some of the infant’s flesh.
“She didn’t make a noise when the dog bit her,” said the frightened mother of two children. She said, “Her body was limp and thrown all over the place.”
She said she was afraid the dog was going to beat her daughter to death.
“At that moment, I thought she was never going to make it, she was going to die. I didn’t know how to help her,” Bolin said. “I couldn’t get her dog away from her. I kept screaming.”
Animal Control retrieved Tater Tot from the family’s home and euthanized the dog while the family was in the hospital, according to the outlet.
Emily, who wants a puppy, now has a fear of animals, Bolin said, even though her family has raised the dog.
“Sometimes she was in so much pain that she would point to herself and say, ‘Mommy, I’m dead.’ The puppy was hungry,” Bolin said. rice field.
