Any time an individual experiences a dog bite, it is a scary situation, as it is unknown if the dog has been immunized, if it is healthy or depending on the severity of the individual’s wound. Yet a recent dog bite incident involving a 10-year-old boy was particularly upsetting as well as unusual. Not only did the dog, a pitbull, bite the boy, but it bit his nose off and swallowed it.
The boy was visiting two friends and the three children were playing with the dog. According to the dog’s owner, as the boys began to get rowdy the dog also got more rowdy, so much so that his wife told the children to calm down. As soon as the boys calmed down the dog calmed down as well.
It wasn’t until later, when the boy sat on the family’s couch and proceeded to stare at the dog, that the dog lunged and bit, biting off the boy’s nose. Initially no one was able to figure out where the severed nose had gone. Sheriff’s deputies searched the home and area for the nose. It wasn’t until later, when animal control officers called to the scene took the dog to a local veterinarian’s office that the nose was recovered. The veterinarian performed a surgical procedure to locate and remove the boy’s nose from the dog’s stomach.
Doctors at a nearby children’s hospital reattached the child’s nose. He is reported to be in good condition.
Although the dog’s owner said the animal, which he had owned since it was a puppy, had never shown any signs of aggression in the past, the dog was euthanized as a result of the incident.
Source: Evansville Courier & Press, “Henderson boy treated after dog bites off, swallows his nose,” Jan. 10, 2013