A young child was hospitalized after being attacked unprovoked by a dog, which prompted the owners to fatally stab the animal to stop the attack near McHenry, authorities said.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and McHenry Township Fire Protection District responded around 11:58 a.m. on August 1 to the 2700 block of Kashmiri Avenue in unincorporated McHenry for a report of a dog bite.
McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Katie Wendt said deputies arrived and found a child had been bitten by a family dog.
Paramedics transported the girl to Advocate Condell Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.
Wendt said deputies learned that the dog had bitten the child and multiple attempts were made to get the dog to release the juvenile.
“When those efforts were unsuccessful, the dog’s owner intervened and fatally stabbed the dog in order to stop the attack,” Wendt said.
McHenry County Department of Health Public Information Officer Nick Kubiak said that McHenry County Animal Control was notified of the incident and responded.
The victim was a 5-year-old and the dog attacked the child unprovoked, Kubiak said.
The owners did not witness how the incident began.
Kubiak said the owners subsequently fatally stabbed the dog after they were unable to remove the dog’s mouth from the child’s arm.
The dog was submitted as a rabies specimen through McHenry County Animal Control and tested negative for rabies.
The McHenry County Department of Health said they do not have any information regarding the child’s medical condition.
Kubiak said the only previous calls involving animals at the home were related to a lack of registration.
The owners had obtained rabies vaccinations for their animals but had not yet purchased the required registration tags.