Recently in Dog Bites / Animal Attacks Category

Police suspect that an Upper East Side dog attack may have led to a man’s death.

City marshals showed up at an apartment on East 62nd Street to evict the tenant, reports the New York Post. They found a bloodbath instead.

When the marshals entered the third-floor apartment they found the unidentified victim lying on a blood-soaked kitchen floor. He had a cut above his eye and bite marks on his arm and leg, reports the Post.

A New City teen was involved in a grisly bear mauling in Alaska over the weekend. Seventeen-year old Joshua Berg was a student at Wyoming-based National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) when he reportedly was attacked by the bear. He suffered serious, but non-life threatening, injuries, and this is the second serious incident in two weeks involving a Wyoming-based outdoor adventure company.

According to ABC, seven teens from around the country were hiking along a river in the Alaskan wilderness as part of a 30-day NOLS wilderness survival course. The teens were on the 24th day of their course and were hiking unsupervised by NOLS staff.

According to FindLaw, thousands of Americans have suffered from animal attacks or bites each year. Most animal attacks in New York involve dogs. Victims may be able to collect damages from the party held responsible or the animal's owner in a civil lawsuit. If you have suffered from an animal attack or bite, a NY personal injury lawyer may advise you to:

• Seek medical attention first; then
• Find out who is the legal owner of the animal;
• See if there might be other potentially responsible parties; and
• Learn what damages you may be entitled to recover. 

The New York Daily News reported three pit bulls brutally attacked Chinese restaurant owner Xiu Ming Li when he crossed through the fenced yard of a Brooklyn home to pass out menus. The 52-year-old victim suffered leg, arm, and head injuries and had one of his earlobes bitten off after the dog attack.

Xiu Ming Li, owner of the Jing Lung Chinese Restaurant in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, unlatched the gate and entered Samantha Sing's yard in spite of the "Beware of Dog" sign posted on the fence. Sing's 3-year-old pit bulls immediately ambushed Li as he walked up the driveway of the house. After the incident, Li's daughter Shih Ru Li explained her father couldn't read the sign because he "doesn't understand the concept of trespassing."

According to WABC-TV News, almost 5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States. More severe bites lead to someone going through reconstructive surgery every twenty minutes. Fortunately, Dr. Stephen Smith of Ohio State University Medical Center has combined modern technology with a centuries-old surgery to better repair injuries from certain kinds of dog bites.

Any New York personal injury attorney may tell you how dogs can be a source of injury in a personal injury case, even if they are one of the most loyal pets. Experts have said children suffer half of all dog bite injuries, most of which bring harm to the face or hands. Most dog bite injuries, however, center on the nose.

According to the New York Daily News, Allen Hirsch's pet monkey, Benjamin, tackled and injured Queens hairdresser Parvin Hajihossini on July 18 during her weekend stay at Hirsch's upstate bed and breakfast. Allen Hirsch, owner of the Kaaterskill Lodge in the Catskills, is also recognized as the artist who painted Bill Clinton's inaugural portrait.

Parvin Hajihossini, 53, took pictures of Benjamin while the monkey was unguarded and seemingly tucked away in an enclosed cage at the lavish lodging. Suddenly, he leaped out of the confines and clawed Hajihossini as a worker gawked at the scene. Hirsch swiftly disappeared with his monkey after the event and Hajihossini was left getting a rabies shot because of the attack.

Another woman has fallen off of a horse, and this time, the victim is an NYPD Mounted Unit cop.

Officer Tara Brzozowski claims that she was "seriously injured" when her horse, Kodiak, stumbled and propelled her off of its back, as reported by the New York Post. Allegedly, she was riding Kodiak on a bike path near 12th Avenue and 58th Street when Kodiak tripped on a manhole cover. Her injuries have not been reported in detail.

A man is suing New York City after a piece of his ear was thrown out once he arrived at Montefiore Medical Center. Eduardo Garcia, 67, had the piece of his ear, but once they arrived at the hospital, the New York Daily News reports that it posed a "potential risk of contamination or infection" so it had to go.

Now, Garcia is upset that the medics took away his option of trying to have it reattached. But who is really at fault here?

In a New York City personal injury case, a New Jersey woman is claiming that a NYPD horse bit her leaving "permanent injuries." Mr. Biggs, one of the horses in the New York Mounted Unit, is accused of biting the woman on her forearm.

Since there are not many cases of horses biting and attacking people in New York City, there don't seem to be clear laws on how to handle it. For the following, I will relate the case using the laws designed for dogs, not because the animals are similar in mannerism, but because these laws are more specific.