Hodgenville, Kentucky



From the April 29, 2004 Louisville Courier-Journal:

A 4-year-old Hodgenville girl was in critical condition yesterday at Kosair Children's Hospital after being attacked by a dog in her back yard.



Emily Paige Stinnett was playing with her 3-year-old stepsister Monday night on a swing set near where the family's 80-pound pit bull was chained. The dog was able to pull the tie-down out of wet dirt, said LaRue County Sheriff Bobby Shoffner.



...



The girl's mother, Alicia Stinnett, was home but unaware of the attack until she went to the yard to check on the girls, the sheriff said. After unsuccessfully trying to get the dog to release her daughter's head, Alicia Stinnett went down the road to a friend's house, who returned with her and got the dog off the child, Shoffner said.



He said the friend shot the dog several times and it went to its doghouse. When Deputy Russell McCoy arrived, he fatally shot the animal.

UPDATE: Here's a followup on the little girl's surgery.