Pit Bull That Attacked Woodbridge Woman Was Being Walked By A Child

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A pit bull bit a woman last Tuesday, Aug. 11, in Woodbridge, said Woodbridge Police. The dog bit the woman at 8:46 in the morning on Temple Way in the Colonia section.

A Woodbridge family had just adopted the dog one day prior, from Associated Humane Society in Newark, said Woodbridge town spokesman John Hagerty. It was being walked by a young child, a girl, last Tuesday morning when suddenly the animal pulled the leash out of the girl's hand.

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A woman was walking nearby and the dog ran at her and attacked her. She was bitten on her face and her hands, said police. 911 was called and she was treated by EMS and then taken to a hospital. Her medical status is not known as of Monday afternoon.

In addition to EMS, Woodbridge Animal Control also responded last Tuesday and completed a bite report, which is mandatory by law. The pit bull had to be put in a 10-day quarantine, also required by law. The dog was picked back up by the Newark Associated Humane Society and it remains on quarantine in that shelter as of Monday.

The dog will not be returned to its adopted home, said the town.

The dog's mandatory quarantine will end this Friday, and at that point it is up to the Newark Associated Humane Society to decide what to do with the animal.

This is not the first pit bull attack to happen in Woodbridge:

In 2024, the family pit bull killed a newborn baby inside a home on Mereline Avenue in Avenel. The dog, which was the family's pet, killed a three-month-old baby boy and severely injured the child's mother as she tried to protect her baby.

In March 2021, a 3-year-old boy was killed and his mother severely injured when they were attacked by a pair of pit bulls in Carteret.

In that attack, the two pit bulls got out of their backyard on Birch Street and were roaming the neighborhood. The dogs went into the backyard of a home on Laurel Street. There, they attacked a 3-year-old boy and mauled his mother as she tried to save her child, according to this Patch news article on the child's death.

The mother screamed at her two older boys, ages 10 and 4, to run inside the home, and they did. However, she could not get her youngest, 3, inside fast enough and she threw her body on top of his to protect him, said a family spokeswoman.

Her two older boys witnessed the attack from inside the house and the 10-year-old called 911. Carteret Police arrived and shot one of the dogs. The second was later put down as well.

The toddler boy was rushed by helicopter to Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick, but he lost so much blood that he died. The mother was nearly killed as well; she was severely injured and spent weeks in the ICU.

The family that was attacked had just moved to the home a few months ago, said neighbors. They were a mother, father and three young boys. Neighbors recalled often seeing the three children often playing in the front yard. Those same neighbors said they constantly heard the dogs barking, and that they were scared of them.

No criminal charges were ever filed against the owners of the pit bulls for either child's death. This petition asked Gov. Phil Murphy and the Middlesex County Prosecutor at the time, Yolanda Ciccone, to bring criminal charges for the death of the Carteret three-year-old.

Family Pit Bull Mauls Infant To Death In Woodbridge, Mother Injured (March, 2024)

Carteret In Stunned Mourning After Boy, 3, Killed By 2 Pit Bulls (March, 2021)