FLORIDA CITY, Fla. – A vicious dog managed to escape from a fenced yard to attack a 3-year-old girl on Friday night in Florida City, according to the Florida City Police Department.
Michael Green identified the victim as his daughter, Sani Julian. He said they were walking to the store about 8:45 p.m. when the dog crawled under the fence and attacked her. He tried fighting off the dog to no avail.
Charles Jones, the owner of the dog named Zeus, rushed to stop the attack. He apologized, Green said.
When Miami-Dade Fire Rescue arrived at 1211 NW 8th Place, they found the girl with wounds on her back and her leg. They airlifted the girl and her mom, Rachel Clark, to Kendall Regional Medical Center.
Clark said on Saturday morning that Sani was recovering in the intensive care unit and was "speaking a little."
Miami-Dade County Animal Services spokeswoman Lilian Bohorquez identified the dog on Saturday as an English Mastiff mix and not a pit bull or a pit-bull mix, as authorities and neighbors had feared on Friday. She said he was humanely euthanized.
Animal Services cited the owner of the dog involved in the attack for failure to vaccinate an animal against rabies and for intact dog running at large. The Florida City Police Department was investigating the incident.