Pit Bull's Fate Lies In Courts After Mauling Alsip Boy

As a 10-year-old boy recovers from bite wounds to his head, Cook County officials will decide if the pit bull that allegedly attacked him will be euthanized.

Matthew Dancho went to the home of a family friend in the 5000 block of West 119th Street in Alsip on April 8. Opening the screen door to knock on the main frame door, when Ryder, a male pit bull, lunged at the boy.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Matthew was mauled and bitten, requiring him to be hospitalized three days. The boy received 50 staples and stitches to close the bite wounds to his head.

Matthew’s screams brought his father and two others to fend off the brown and white pit bull from attacking the boy further before Alsip police arrived, the Tribune said.

At the request of Alsip Police asked Cook County’s Animal Control Administrator to investigate Ryder’s case. The animal control administrator’s determined that Ryder “did attack without justification and caused serious physical injury to the victim,” the paper reported.

Last week, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office filed a complaint asking that the dog be legally declared “vicious” under state statute, and euthanized by the Cook County Animal and Rabies Control.

Ryder’s owner states that the boy was at fault because he was “trespassing.”

While a neighbor described Ryder to the paper as “very loving,” another neighbor filed a complaint in 2012 that Ryder attacked her Chihuahua by dragging it “across the sidewalk.”

The case of Ryder is unusual because few dog bite cases end up in court.

The boy’s mother, Cassandra Dancho, doesn’t understand why the owner doesn’t voluntarily euthanize the dog.

“He’s got a taste of blood now,” Dancho told the paper.

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune