Charlotte Pit Bull Runs Into School, Bites 7 Kids

A pit bull ran into a Charlotte elementary school on Monday afternoon and bit seven children before a teacher could restrain the dog.

The stray dog wandered onto the campus of Lansdowne Elementary School for kindergarten through fifth grade students just before 1:30 p.m. while the children were playing outside, city officials told the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina.

School staff ushered students back into the building but the dog followed them inside, said a representative from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Animal Care and Control unit, per the Observer.

"Some of the children were frightened and were reacting by running and making noise," according to an animal control statement. "The canine then became overstimulated by this reaction and began to jump on and bite some of the children. A teacher was able to confine the canine."

WBTV reported the children sustained minor injuries in the attack with six of them receiving Level 3 bites on the "Dunbar Dog Bite Scale." The scale, used by the animal control unit, is defined as "one to four punctures from a single bite with no puncture deeper than half the length of the dog's canine teeth, the television station noted.

The seventh student received a Level 1 bite, defined as "obnoxious or aggressive behavior but no skin-contact by teeth," per WBTV.

The city's animal control website said a local ordinance makes it unlawful for a person to own an animal that creates a "public nuisance," which includes disturbing "the rights of or threatens the safety of a member of the general public." The website said that the division could take civil action against the owner if an officer sees or hears the violation.

Officials told WBTV that the dog is under a rabies quarantine at the Cumberland County Animal Control shelter for 10 days.

School officials said they contacted the dog's owner from the information on the dog's collar and the owner picked up the dog before animal control officers arrived, per WBTV.

The division contacted the owner afterwards and confirmed with a veterinary hospital that the dog was current on its rabies vaccination, WBTV said.

In December, a 7-year-old boy received more than 60 stitches from an attack from a pit bull in Charlotte, according to WCNC-TV, and the attack ended when a witness to the attack shot and killed the dog.

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