A dog in Layton bit a 4-year-old boy reaching under a fence, severing the child’s arm above the wrist, FOX 13 reported Sunday.
The boy underwent surgery Sunday night. Layton Fire Battalion Chief Jason Cook told FOX 13 that the episode happened about 3:45 p.m. near 1000 N. 3575 West. The boy was in his backyard. He had a sock on his hand and reached under a vinyl fence to play with two huskies.
Cook told the station that one dog bit with enough force to sever the arm.
“He lost his hand from about this point down,” Cook said while pointing above his own wrist.
A helicopter flew the 4-year-old to Primary Children’s Hospital. Meanwhile, Cook said emergency responders were unable to find the limb.
“There is fear that it was probably ingested by the dog that bit him,” Cook told FOX 13. “So at this point it does not appear that reattachment is going to be an option for us.”
Animal control officers took both dogs. In an email to The Salt Lake Tribune, Rhett Nicks, the director of Davis County Animal Care & Control, said the dogs are being quarantined for 10 days as standard procedure to observe whether they have rabies. He declined to discuss whether the dogs could be euthanized or returned to their owner.
“Everything else surrounding this incident is an open investigation which would preclude me from commenting until the case has reached a conclusion,” Nicks said.
Editor’s note: FOX 13 and The Salt Lake Tribune are content sharing partners.
