DETROIT, MI - Medical authorities were able to reattach the arm of a 10-year-old girl mauled Saturday afternoon by a pit bull, Detroit police reported.

Doctors also saved the girl's foot, Officer Jennifer Moreno said.

"It is a positive outlook for her, they said," Moreno reported.

The girl, however, remains in "very critical condition" at St. John Hospital in Detroit.

She was in a backyard about 1:15 p.m. June 17 on Beaconsfield Street on the east side of the city when the dog left the house and attacked her.

An aunt tried to stop the animal, but she too was attacked. She had leg injuries and required emergency surgery.

The dog remains in the custody of Detroit Animal Control. It is to be quarantined for 10 days as state law dictates, Moreno said.

If the owner disputes its destruction, the court decides what happens to the dog after a hearing.

Police are working with animal control and Humane Society officials to investigate the incident; the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office will make any determination on possible charges, Moreno said.

"Why is this dog allowed to stay here when we already have a history of the dog being vicious?" Chief James Craig said, according to WDIV-TV, Channel 4.

According to police, the dog was quarantined last year after an attack on a DTE worker, the news station is reporting.