Online Support Grows For Staten Island Pit Bull Shot By Police
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Staten Island pit bull shot and wounded by police trying to break up a dog fight has thousands of online friends.
Dog activists have taken to social media to raise support for Baby Girl and her owner.
Baby Girl was shot in the stomach on Saturday in Schmul Park.
Special Needs Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation has raised $2,500 toward the 2-year-old dog's $8,000 medical bills.
Online Support Grows For Staten Island Pit Bull Shot By Police
The group has also created a website called SNARR Dog Police tracking Baby Girl's recovery.
According to the website, Baby Girl was out with her owner when two of the family's other dogs got into a fight. One of the dogs' owners was apparently bitten in the hand trying to separate the fighting dogs.
Police said shots were fired in an attempt to bring the situation under control.
But family members claim the situation had been resolved by the time officers arrived and Baby Girl was shot as she tried to run away from the scene into the woods, according to the website.
"Baby Girl had nothing to do with the incident," owner Pat Guiliano said. "It was actually shot from a rear-entry bullet wound, not a tranquilizer, as she was running away from the first gunshot."
Guliano said officers kept the pit bull in the back of a truck for half an hour before trying to get her help.
Police said the incident remains under review.
Baby Girl is being treated at Garden State Veterinary Specialists in New Jersey.
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