DETROIT – Detroit Animal Control is expected to add nine more officers to its force by October.

The department currently works with 10 trained officers. They are working to train enough new officers to nearly double the staff.

This news comes after a deadly attack on a 9-year-old girl in August in Southwest Detroit, but the department said plans for expansion already were underway.

Emma Hernandez was killed in the attack on Aug. 19 in Detroit. She was riding her bicycle in the area of Central Avenue and Smart Street when the three pit bulls escaped from a neighbor's yard, police said.

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