The 9-year-old girl had gone to the Palm Coast house at 47 Powder Horn Drive to play with her friend there Sunday. She never made it past the front door, where a pit bull attacked and mauled her, leaving her injured in so many places that she had to be sedated to get stitches.





Sarah Fancher, the owner of the 2-year-old dog, has voluntarily surrendered him to the Flagler Humane Society, fearing that it has been aggressive too often. It was the second attack in two weeks involving a pit bull in Palm Coast. On Oct. 25, a 76-year-old pizza delivery man was attacked in much the same manner as the 9-year-old girl: he’d gone up to a residence’s door, knocked, and was attacked when the dog, a pit bull boxer mix, slipped through and went outside. The victim was hospitalized.

The 9-year-old girl was standing just outside the house on Powder Horn when, according to Fancher’s account to the girl’s parents, the dog–called Chopper–got out and attacked the girl. She said her son and daughter were getting ready to leave the house when the 9-year-old girl knocked to ask if her daughter could play. Chopper pushed past her son and went on the attack.

Fancher’s son, who said he’d never seen Chopper act that way, described him as uncontrollable and as acting in a “rabid” manner, biting the girl and not letting go. The boy immediately attempted to get the dog to desist but couldn’t. Fancher ran over and tried likewise as her son “grabbed a yellow furniture Dolly and began to strike Chopper in the head,” the sheriff’s incident report states. Mother and son “struck Chopper several times with a closed fist in his head in an effort to get him to let go.” The dog finally did, but not before inflicting severe harm on the child.

Fancher picked up the girl and brought her inside to tend to her wounds as her son secured Chopper on the enclosed back porch. He then went over to the girl’s house to let her parents know of the attack.

The girl’s parents told deputies that the dog bit the girl on top of the head, the back of her shoulder, on both calves and shins, and on her arms, “to name a few,” the report states. The girl was “covered up in the ER bed and some of her wounds had gauze on them” when a deputy arrived at Florida Hospital Flagler’s emergency room.

Her parents said that “due to [her] pain level and the number of bites sustained during the attack that [she] will need to be sedated in order for the doctor to stitch the wounds,” according to the sheriff’s incident report.

By then Fancher had called 911, told them of the incident and informed the dispatch center that she wanted to surrender the dog “due to the dog constantly being aggressive,” though the report notes that she told deputies in person that the dog didn’t have such a history. Palm Coast Animal Control responded.

Fancher had adopted Chopper from the Orange County Humane Society when the dog was 8 months old. Speaking with deputies, she said that while the dog hasn’t showed aggression toward anyone previously, he gets “excited” whenever someone rings the doorbell or knocks on the door. Fancher said she’d told the girl and other guests not to ring the doorbell or knock on the door in the past.

Animal control arrived at the scene and took possession of the dog without incident. “At this time, it is unknown how many stitches [the girl] received or what other treatment was provided to her while she was in the Emergency Room,” the report states.

Chopper has been quarantined at the Humane Society. Asked what his fate may be, Amy Carotenuto, the society’s executive director, was not hopeful. “We really don’t have much choice, since he inflicted injuries to a child,” she said. “Odds are euthanasia. Breaks my heart.” She added: “I want to start a large scale education program to get pet owners to put their pets away before opening the front door. Those poor dogs are just protecting their family in their minds. And they die for it.”

Palm Coast government is in the midst of a re-write of its animal-control ordinance, which includes rules regarding dogs and dangerous dogs, and will be submitting the proposed results to the city council later this month.