Surrey toddler recovering from pit bull attack

It will take weeks before doctors know whether plastic surgery is needed for a Surrey toddler whose face was mauled by a pit bull last week, his mother said Wednesday.

Justice Paradis, 3, received numerous stitches and is taking medication for the pain, Starla Schoenthal told CBC News on Wednesday.

Justice was visiting his father, Dejal-Blue Paradis, at his home near 103 Avenue and 133 Street in Surrey, when the attack took place. Paradis and Schoenthal never got married, and Justice lives with his mother across the street from where his father resides.

Justice was playing with the pit bull, Haze, outside the house about 2 p.m. when the dog suddenly grabbed him by the face.

'I don't believe all pit bulls should be put down. There should be special training for known, vicious dogs.' — Starla Schoenthal, Justice's mother

"I screamed at the top of my lungs and I rushed over as quickly as I could and obviously put a compression on his face to stop the bleeding," Schoenthal said Wednesday.

"Doctors said when the dog got him it got the upper part of his lip there. He got some stitches inside," she said.

The pit bull belongs to the father's family, and Paradis said he blamed himself for letting Justice play with the family dog, which was not used to children, without adult supervision.

"I jumped on to the dog, grabbed him by the neck and started strangling him," Paradis said earlier this week. "He let go, I picked him up and threw him on to the glass table."

Justice was bitten on the face and near the eyes, including a 15-centremetre gash on the face. He was rushed to Surrey Memorial Hospital and needed surgery to close his wounds.

Surrey RCMP and the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals both responded to the incident.

The Paradis family has agreed to have their dog put down, but the dog was still being kept on a leash outside the household Wednesday.

Schoenthal said she won't let Justice anywhere near the dog that bit him, but she doesn't think it should be destroyed because the family had been taking good care of it.

"I don't believe all pit bulls should be put down. There should be special training for known, vicious dogs," she said.