Thursday, 4:30 PM
Girl, 5, bitten by pit bull in Boston
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff
A 5-year-old Roxbury girl suffered minor injuries on her face this afternoon when she was bit by a neighbor's pit bull after she tried to pet the dog's new litter of puppies, said Boston police and witnesses.
The incident happened around 2 p.m. on Regent Street. After the attack, witnesses said, the girl was carried to an ambulance by her mother and taken to Boston Medical Center.
The 3-year-old pit bull named Taeja was taken by Boston Animal Control officers, along with the litter of three puppies, said the dog's owner, Linda Wiggins, 21, who lives next door to the victim.
"The way she was raised she is not violent," a tearful Wiggins said. "The dog just snapped her on the cheek ... She was just protecting the puppies."
In May, the Legislature held a hearing about whether to create a statewide ban on pit bulls after a series of highly publicized attacks on children and others.
No legislation banning pit bulls has been filed, but Representative Vincent A. Pedone, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, has expressed interest in the idea.
