The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A MOTHER fought a dog with her bare hands while holding her three-year-old daughter after the animal escaped from a neighbour’s yard and attacked the child, leaving her with head injuries that required surgery.

Bentika Lightbourne, 36, said she feared she could have lost her daughter, Skyla, in Wednesday’s attack on Ida Street. She also alleged that the same dog, believed to be a German Shepherd, had bitten her cousin about two weeks earlier.

“I coulda lose my baby,” Ms Lightbourne said.

Skyla was discharged from hospital on Friday evening after undergoing surgery, but her mother said the child remains badly traumatised.

“She ain’t the same person,” Ms Lightbourne said. “She traumatized bad.”

Ms Lightbourne said she had been taking Skyla to a nearby corner store to get a drink before the child was due to attend school and she was expected to go to work.

She said only she and two elderly neighbours were outside when a woman at a nearby residence called out to Skyla. The dog then escaped through the gate and attacked the child.

She said she immediately began fighting the animal.

“I was fighting like really fighting,” Ms Lightbourne said. “I struggled.”

“After the fact, I had her,” she said. “I picked her up off the ground. I had her in one hand. I was still fighting with the dog, with her, with her in one hand.”

The attack comes amid mounting concern over dangerous and uncontrolled dogs after a series of serious incidents this year and during a government amnesty aimed at bringing dog owners into compliance with licensing and animal-control laws.

Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Jomo Campbell launched the Mission Pawsible initiative on August 31, giving dog owners from September 1 to 30 to bring their animals into compliance before authorities intensify enforcement. The initiative followed several serious attacks, including the June mauling of 66-year-old Kemp Road resident Don Smith and a July attack on 70-year-old Jackie Livingston Thompson.

In July, nine-year-old American Beau Brattain suffered life-threatening injuries after several dogs attacked him in Bimini, biting him across his face, head, arms and legs. Earlier this month, an 11-year-old boy was hospitalised after another reported dog attack at Susan J Wallace Park in Grand Bahama. Animal Control Unit officer-in-charge Pearline Jones has said dog attacks are the unit’s most common complaints, with about three to four cases reported each day and sometimes more.

Ms Lightbourne said the dog involved in her daughter’s attack had been in the area for about two years and had previously behaved aggressively towards people passing the property.

She alleged that the animal had bitten her cousin about two weeks before Skyla was attacked.

Ms Lightbourne said the dog was put down on the same day as Wednesday’s attack.

She said she received no apology from the neighbours afterwards. She did not know them personally, she said, although the woman at the residence was known to call out to children in the area.

Ms Lightbourne said she has barely slept since the attack and remained awake watching over Skyla even after the child returned home from hospital.

“I still lost words every time I look at my baby,” she said. “I break down. I ain’t sleep from Wednesday. I ain’t sleep from then to now.”

Ms Lightbourne said she reported the matter to the police and wants charges filed. Police liaison Chief Superintendent Sheria King offered no update when contacted yesterday.

“I need some justice for my baby,” she said. “I need justice for my baby, financial help, every help I could get for my baby right now. But it’s only me.”

Ms Lightbourne, a self-employed housekeeper and single mother of three, said she has been unable to work as she normally would because she must remain home to care for Skyla.

She said her income depends on day-to-day work, leaving her to balance caring for her injured daughter with providing for her family.

For now, she is seeking healthy foods and other necessities for Skyla, including soups and snacks, as the child recovers. She said she can be reached at 456-5921.