By Roger Lanse

On Wednesday, Sept. 13, at around 6:45 a.m., Annette Toney, an Arenas Valley woman, was taking her usual health-walk along Yucca Valley Drive, a dead-end, low-traffic, dirt road near the old VFW building when she was attacked by a pit bull owned by a Yucca Valley Drive resident, according to Grant County Animal Control Officer Buddy Howard.

According to a Grant County Beat report, the dog knocked Toney down tearing and biting her multiple times in the head, hip, thigh, back, and shoulder. Toney was told the dog was picked up and euthanized and testing revealed the dog was not rabid.

Howard told the Beat on Tuesday, Oct. 17, that no charges have been filed against the dog’s owner. “Pretty much, I was letting them deal with it themselves,” he said. “The owner of the dog swore up and down that he would pay her hospital bills and I haven’t heard that anything has changed. The dog’s owner was ready to relinquish the animal. He did not want to hang on to that dog any longer. But, they were willing to, you know, take care of her expenses. Yeah, the dog was running loose and I don’t see that we need to just totally pounce on somebody when they are willing to make it right. But, if I hear back from her (Mrs. Toney) that they are backing up on me, well then, I will go ahead and file.”

According to Toney, her medical expenses have already exceeded $10,000 and they are still coming in. She said she is submitting all her medical bills relating to the attack to the dog owner’s insurance company.