Falk Elementary Students Hurt After Being Scratched By Pit Bulls
Dog Owner Was Fined $700
Updated: 3:56 pm CDT May 1, 2007
MADISON, Wis. -- Three Falk Elementary Students suffered minor injuries last week after three young pit bulls got loose and ran wild on the school's playground.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe three children were scratched but not bitten by the dogs, officials said.The incident happened on Thursday morning just before school started. The pit bulls apparently jumped a fence that separated a nearby home's backyard from the school playground, WISC-TV reported.Marie Wilson, the owner of the dogs, said that the children were coming up to the fence and antagonizing the pit bulls and the animals reacted. The three dogs -- Wilson owns four pit bulls -- are 5 months old."It's just when you're taking a stick and you're hitting through the gate, they're going to react. They don't just attack," she said."Some of the kids ran up to the gate," Wilson said. "They're always sticking sticks or whatever it is they can find in the playground. They will stick them through the gate. Irritating. Everybody knows dogs are going to get irritated. They went over the gate."The dogs chased the frantic children until the staff got the students inside.Animal control officials seized the dogs and are holding them because they didn't have rabies shots. They said that because there wasn't a serious bite, the dogs will be returned to Wilson after 10 days."This could have been malicious or it could have been puppies jumping up on people," said Patrick Comfert, lead worker for Animal Control. "It's hard to say.""This type of behavior could lead to something in the future, but this particular incident would not give us enough to declare the dogs dangerous," he said.Wilson was fined more than $700 for the incident.Falk Elementary Principal Lynn Winn said that her students were understandably scared after the incident. She said that she's trying to work with Wilson to get the dogs kept inside while the children are out at play and is setting up an off-limits zone of the playground, WISC-TV reported."We're setting up a buffer zone, sort of a cordoned-off area that comes a little way into the playground," Winn said.Wilson apologized to the Falk parents and said that she wants the playground to be safe."At the same time, this is my back yard. So my dogs should be able to come out and use the bathroom without them attacking them at the gate," she said.Wilson said that she'll keep the dogs chained if they are out in the yard unsupervised.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe three children were scratched but not bitten by the dogs, officials said.The incident happened on Thursday morning just before school started. The pit bulls apparently jumped a fence that separated a nearby home's backyard from the school playground, WISC-TV reported.Marie Wilson, the owner of the dogs, said that the children were coming up to the fence and antagonizing the pit bulls and the animals reacted. The three dogs -- Wilson owns four pit bulls -- are 5 months old."It's just when you're taking a stick and you're hitting through the gate, they're going to react. They don't just attack," she said."Some of the kids ran up to the gate," Wilson said. "They're always sticking sticks or whatever it is they can find in the playground. They will stick them through the gate. Irritating. Everybody knows dogs are going to get irritated. They went over the gate."The dogs chased the frantic children until the staff got the students inside.Animal control officials seized the dogs and are holding them because they didn't have rabies shots. They said that because there wasn't a serious bite, the dogs will be returned to Wilson after 10 days."This could have been malicious or it could have been puppies jumping up on people," said Patrick Comfert, lead worker for Animal Control. "It's hard to say.""This type of behavior could lead to something in the future, but this particular incident would not give us enough to declare the dogs dangerous," he said.Wilson was fined more than $700 for the incident.Falk Elementary Principal Lynn Winn said that her students were understandably scared after the incident. She said that she's trying to work with Wilson to get the dogs kept inside while the children are out at play and is setting up an off-limits zone of the playground, WISC-TV reported."We're setting up a buffer zone, sort of a cordoned-off area that comes a little way into the playground," Winn said.Wilson apologized to the Falk parents and said that she wants the playground to be safe."At the same time, this is my back yard. So my dogs should be able to come out and use the bathroom without them attacking them at the gate," she said.Wilson said that she'll keep the dogs chained if they are out in the yard unsupervised.Copyright 2007 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
