On Saturday, police officers on Staten Island shot a pit bull after it allegedly attacked its owner. But rescue organizations and the family of the shot 2-year-old dog, Baby Girl, dispute the cops story, claiming that the officer shot the dog after the incident was already under control, and that the officer shot a dog who wasn't involved in the incident to begin with. Now, animal activists and supporters have created a website to track Baby Girl's condition, and taken to various social media to spread their outrage over the shooting of a dog whose best friend, as you can see in the video below, was a rabbit.
Owner Patricia Ratz and her sister Kathleen Dixon brought their three pit bulls to Schmul Park in Travis around 1 p.m. on Saturday. Two of the dogs—not Baby Girl— started fighting, and Ratz stuck her hand in between the two dogs to try to break it up; one of them bit it, prompting a police response. Ratz told SILive that officer Julie Moschella and an officer in civilian clothing arrived moments after the fight and opened fire on Baby Girl, who was running away from them.
But according a police spokesman, "Responding officers tried to help her, and in the attempt to get the dog off her, shots were fired." The department now says the shooting is "under investigation."
"We had them separated, we had everything calm," Ratz said of the dogs, adding that she made a mistake putting her hand between the animals. "A cop comes from the street with her gun pointed straight at the dogs, and she just started shooting. She could've shot me, or my sister, or the kids [in the park]."
As of Tuesday, Baby Girl wasn't in very good shape according to updates on Facebook and her website, but she was miraculously still alive: "Surgeon said we still cannot be confident for at least a week due to infection. But he said it was miraculous she survived. When he first opened her up he thought there was nothing they could do. But he said it was amazing that the bullet hit 7 sections of intestines and bowels, But didn't hit any major organs otherwise."
S.N.A.R.R Animal Rescue Northeast, the group that rescued Baby Girl before she was adopted, spread the family's message and has been updating her condition since. If you would like to donate to Baby Girl's care, you can go here to do so (just note that your donation is for "Baby Girl").
