'I got my gun and I popped him': Father shoots family dog and digs through its stomach to recover son's finger after animal bites it off and swallows it



Fernando Brignoni, 11, was playing with the caged Malamute-wolf mix named Sassy, at about 6 p.m. on Friday when the dog bit off his pinky and swallowed it whole



Luis Brignoni Sr, 41, rushed to get his gun and killed the dog, before cutting open its stomach and retrieving the missing finger

The boy and his finger were sent to hospital by helicopter but doctors were unable to re-attach it because the nerve damage was too severe

A Florida father shot dead the family dog and searched its stomach to recover his son's finger after the animal bit it off and swallowed it.

Fernando Brignoni, 11, was playing with the caged Malamute-wolf mix named Sassy, at about 6 p.m. on Friday at his Bradenton home when the dog grabbed his hand. His brother, Luis, 13, managed to get Fernando free by whacking Sassy with a stick but not before the dog had bitten off the boy's pinky and swallowed it whole.

Thinking quickly, the boys' father, Luis Brignoni Sr, 41, rushed to get his gun and killed the dog, before cutting open its stomach and retrieving the missing finger.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Attack: Fernando Brignoni, 11, pictured, was playing with the caged Malamute-wolf mix named Sassy, at about 6 p.m. on Friday when the dog grabbed his hand

He carefully sent the digit on the helicopter with his bleeding son to a St. Petersburg hospital.

Fernando was later transferred to Tampa General Hospital, but doctors sadly couldn't re-attach his finger during emergency surgery because the nerve damage was too extensive.



Instead, they grafted the skin from his forearm to the wound of the missing pinky.

The father, who had been a hunter for many years, told the Miami Herald he knew he had no choice but to take aim at the beloved family pet.



Hunter: Luis Brignoni Sr, 41, pictured, rushed to get his gun and killed the dog, before cutting open its stomach and retrieving the missing finger

Old friends: Fernando, left, was playing with the caged Malamute-wolf mix Sassy, right, at about 6 p.m. on Friday when the dog attacked

'I said, "I've got to go find the finger,"' he said. 'I got my gun and I popped him.'



He added: 'You don't know what you will do for your child. You don't know where you get the strength from.'



When a sheriff's deputy got there, Brignoni was already cutting the dog open.



'They're helping me look for the finger inside the stomach,' he recalled to WTSP.com .

Manatee County Animal Services came to collect the dog's remains after the incident.

No good: Doctors couldn't re-attach the finger to Fernando's hand, pictured, during emergency surgery because the nerve damage was too extensive

Accident: The accident happened at the family's Bradenton house, pictured, on Good Friday

Brignoni is an ordained minister for the nondenominational Love Family Church and said he planned to postpone Easter services for a week because of the finger incident.



He recalled that Fernando referred to Good Friday, an important day for Christians, during the attack.



'He said, "Dad, this is Good Friday, and it's not so good,"' Luis Brignoni Sr told the newspaper.

Fernando is recovering well and is expected to leave hospital today. His family are looking on the bright side after the loss of his finger.



'He might be missing a finger, but his other four are good. 'Cause God is good, you know, he still has four fingers to do everything that he can do with five. He can do with four, Luis Brignoni Sr told WTSP.com.