Dog family wanted out of home mauls girl - ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MI

(03/14/13) - It was a frightening ordeal for a 2-year-old girl. Police say she suffered serious injuries after she was mauled by a dog.

It happened Monday afternoon at the Saginaw Community Villas on Dixie Highway in Buena Vista Township.

Her family says they called animal control to pick up the animal before the attack, but they were told they would have to pay.

There are still a lot of question about what the family was told. There is even some questions about the breed of the dog.

The dog actually belonged to someone who used to live in the home, but the girl's father says he didn't want to abandon the dog.

"I didn't want to put her on the street, because I would get in trouble for that," said Mitchell Nicholas.

Nicholas says Monday's attack by the dog was not the first time the pet bit the child.

"The first time he attacked her, we called Animal Control four times, they said they need $135 just to come and get her," he said.

News of the dog attack surprised the manager of the complex, Theresa Marshall, who says she has never heard of Saginaw County Animal Control charging money for picking up dogs or cats.

"We do have stray animals that come out from the neighborhoods over here, if we call them, they are constantly driving through here, we never have a problem with them," she said.

Saginaw County Animal Control says the dog is a pitbull mix, which also is a surprise to Marshall.

"It's a ridgeback," she said.

She says the complex doesn't allow pitbulls or pitbull mix dogs and this particular dog was checked by a veterinarian, who told Marshall it is a ridgeback.

Donald Robinson lives across from the home where the attacked happened. He has a black lab, great dane mix and says if it's true Animal Control wanted to charge the family money to have the pet removed, that's wrong.

"That's kind of an expensive cost to get rid of a dog that bites someone," he said. "Our kids come out and play outside all the time."

Late Thursday afternoon, Saginaw County Animal Control Director Kevin Wilken released a statement saying, he hopes for a speedy recovery of the little girl and at this time, that animal care center did remove the animal after the Monday attack, and because the matter is under investigation, he will not be able to comment further.

The girl's father says she is doing OK.