5-year-old girl hospitalized after attack by dog pack in Collier County

On Thursday night, a 5-year-old girl was hospitalized after a pack of dogs attacked her in Collier County.

According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a residence on Smith Road, east of Golden Gate, around 7 p.m. in response to a 911 caller who said a child had been seriously injured in a dog attack. The caller warned that the dogs would likely attack deputies when they arrived.

When deputies arrived at the home, they saw six or seven dogs in the fenced-in yard along with the young victim, sitting up with blood on her stomach. A woman was walking around the driveway trying to coax the dogs out of the yard. Deputies ordered the woman to pick up the victim and carry her out of the yard because the dogs didn’t appear aggressive toward her. The woman picked up the child and began carrying her until she began losing her grip on the child and had to set her down.

Several dogs started to circle around the woman and the victim, one trying to nip at the victim. One deputy began shooting the dogs with his pepper ball gun to keep them away from the girl. Another rushed into the yard, grabbed the girl and ran her to the waiting paramedics.

The child’s injuries were extensive: She had a large amount of tissue missing from the back of her right leg, exposing most of her femur. She also had a bite wound to her stomach and lacerations to her back, among other injuries. The child was transported by ambulance to Physicians Regional Medical Center – Collier Boulevard, where she was then flown by medical helicopter to Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers and later to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Collier County Domestic Animal Services responded and initiated a report.