LAYTON (ABC4 News) – People from around the world are expressing concern for a Layton 4-year-old who had his hand and wrist bitten off by one of his neighbor’s dogs Sunday afternoon. Now tens of thousands are signing an online petition to save the dogs’ lives.

Rhett Nicks, Director of Davis County Animal Control, says there’s a possibility that the male huskies named Polar and Bear could be put down because of the incident.

“There’s a severe injury to a human,” Nicks said. “So, we are doing a dangerous dog investigation which could range from nothing being done up to an including euthanasia.”

Nicks says they don’t know which dog actually bit the boy after he put his arm in a sock and stuck it underneath a vinyl fence Sunday afternoon, but Jessica Nusz told ABC4 News it was Bear.

Jessica is a friend of the other dog’s owner, a young lady who she says depends on Polar for emotional support.

“He helps her with her depression and anxiety,” Nusz said.

Jessica says she started the petition because her friend is distraught over the incident and that Bear probably thought the boys covered hand was a chew toy.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 38,000 signers agreed with her that putting Polar and Bear down would just compound the tragedy.

“It would put an unnecessary emotional trauma on the family of the dogs because they’ve had them since they were puppies,” Nusz said. “It was just a freak accident and the neighbors know it was a freak accident especially if you’re not careful with big dogs.”

Read the petition here.

The GoFundMe campaign Jessica started for Polar and Bear’s owners can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/bvm9p-save-polar-and-bear.