Two St. Bernard dogs that critically injured a girl in Haliburton on Easter Sunday have been euthanized, according to the region’s health unit.
OPP continue to investigate the animals’ attack on a six-year-old girl and her mother while they were jogging on Gainforth Road just south of Haliburton on April 12.
The girl was airlifted to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, where she required extensive surgery and up to 400 stitches on her body, according to her father. She was released and returned home on Friday but will require further hospital visits.
The girl’s mother also suffered injuries and was taken to the Haliburton hospital, OPP said. Her husband says she jumped on her daughter to try to protect her from the dogs.
According to the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit, the two dogs were placed in a 10-day quarantine following the attack. Wednesday marked the end of the quarantine and the health unit reports the two male dogs were scheduled to be euthanized in the afternoon at Minden Animal Hospital.
According to Ricard Ovcharovich, the health unit’s manager of environmental health, an inspector made a confinement visit on Wednesday morning and reported the dogs appeared healthy. The health unit also confirmed the dogs’ vaccinations for rabies were up to date.
“Therefore there is no risk of exposure of the rabies virus to the victims,” the inspector stated.
Ovcharovich says the decision to euthanize the dogs is the owners’ choice.
“The health unit’s involvement is only to ensure that the dogs were not rabid at the time of the incident and to confirm rabies vaccination,” he told Global News Peterborough.
He said once the health unit receives the euthanization certificates, its investigation will be closed.
The father says his daughter returns to Sick Kids on Friday for further stitch removal.
A GoFundMe page has raised more than $37,000 to support the family’s medical and travel expenses.