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3-Year-Old Girl Undergoes Surgery After Being Mauled By Dog In Florida City

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A 3-year-old girl underwent emergency surgery overnight after being mauled by a dog in Florida City.

Sani Julian had a simple request Friday night.

"All she kept asking me, 'Daddy I want some milk.' I said come on let's walk to the store," Michael Green explained.

Green said he'd been prolonging the trip, but the daddy's girl got her way.

"I really didn't want to go to the store and I went anyway," he said.

As they were walking out of their Florida City neighborhood, out of nowhere, he says, a dog attacked 3-year-old Sani.

He immediately tried to come between the dog and his little girl.

"He grabbed my hand I jerked it out of his mouth, you know what I'm saying, I hit him across the head and he wouldn't let go and then the owner came out. It took him like five or six minutes to get him off her," Green explained.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue rushed Sani to Kendall Regional Medical Center.

Police would later discover that the dog had gotten out of a fenced yard.

"Animal services responded to the scene and conducted an investigation along with our department. They went ahead and cited the homeowner or the dog's owner," said Cpl. Arm Enteros with the Florida City police Department.

The owner surrendered the dog to Animal Services after the incident.

Authorities issued three citations. There were as follows:

  1. A dog endangers, attacks or bites a human.
  2. Failure to vaccinate animal against rabies.
  3. Intact dog running at large in any manner.

Miami-Dade Animal Services clarified Saturday morning the dog is a mastiff mix, not a pit bull mix as originally described.

The dog, according to animal services, was showing signs of aggression and was euthanized.

As for Sani, she's in fair condition after having emergency surgery for serious injuries.

"He bit her in the back real bad, two big spots, you could see her spine it looked like," her father said.

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