This bloody tale comes to us by way of the Daily News. A 56 year old meter reader for Florida Power & Light Co. got pounced on by four pit-bull dogs as she approached a customer's yard.
This is from the June 04, 2003 edition of the
New York Daily News Pit bulls rip ear off Fla. meter reader
By DEREK ROSE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A 56-year-old Florida meter reader was savaged yesterday by four pit bulls who leaped a fence and tore off her ear and part of her scalp.
The woman was airlifted to a hospital for surgery following the 8:30 a.m. attack in Brevard County's Port St. John, about 50 miles east of Orlando.
"She was reading meters this morning, and as she approached the yard four pit bulls came up over the fence and attacked her," said Florida Power & Light Co. spokesman Bill Swank.
Identified only as Carol, the woman somehow broke free and locked herself in her pickup.
She drove a few blocks and then tumbled out, screaming for a neighbor to call 911.
Joe Fisher, 65, did not even recognize his longtime meter reader.
"It was very gruesome," he said. "I've seen dead people, I've seen hamburger on the side of the road - but this was bad."
The woman was missing a 6-inch chunk of scalp - and her right ear was dangling in what was left of her hair.
"I wiped blood out of her nose, her mouth, whatever," Fisher told the Daily News.
A retired steam plant chief operator, Fisher has some medical training and administered first aid until the ambulance arrived.
"I got her in a chair, I didn't want to lay her down in a horizontal position," he said. "Thank goodness she did not go into shock."
Capt. David Polomski of Brevard County Animal Services and Enforcement told The Associated Press that one pit bull was caught and the others were being sought.
The dogs' owner, David Teuche, faces up to $2,160 in fines, Polomski said. He was previously fined $40 for having a loose dog.
Teuche does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment.
Originally published on June 4, 2003
