SAN ANTONIO – A 1-year-old boy is “not doing well” after he was mauled by family dogs at a home Monday morning in northeast Bexar County.
Sheriff Javier Salazar initially reported that the baby had been left in the care of his 13-year-old sister at a home in the 9700 block of Spruce Ridge Drive near Converse when at least two of the three family dogs attacked the infant on a bed. However, less than an hour later, the sheriff’s office said the teen was not related to the baby and the baby had been left in the care of an adult babysitter.
Salazar said the 13-year-old girl tried to intervene in the attack, but the dogs turned on her, Salazar said.
The baby was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center but was going to be airlifted to University Hospital for treatment. He suffered bite wounds to his face, head, neck and throat, Salazar said.
Salazar initially said the child’s mother was led away in handcuffs to be questioned and it’s “quite possible that she will be arrested” on a charge of injury to a child by omission. However, the sheriff’s office also later clarified that it wasn’t the child’s mother but actually the babysitter.
The dogs were removed from the home despite objections from the woman, Salazar said.
“(She) didn’t seem to show much concern,” Salazar said.
“The actual blood relatives of the 1-year-old baby boy are currently with their baby at the hospital as he continues ongoing treatment for their wounds,” the sheriff’s office said in a corrected statement after Salazar’s press conference.
The sheriff said there was an incident involving the same dogs at the home previously, but despite being deemed dangerous, the owners were allowed to keep the dogs, Salazar said. The owners were cited in the incident.
We’ll have updates on this developing story as we get new information.