Edmonton man sent to hospital after aggressive dog attack

Two dogs were taken into custody by Edmonton's Animal Care and Control Centre on Saturday, September 12, 2015.

A man is recovering in hospital after being bit by a dog in an east-central Edmonton neighbourhood Saturday afternoon.

Edmonton police and officials from the City’s Animal Care and Control Centre responded to a home in the area of 96^th Avenue and 85^th Street at approximately 1:30 p.m. on September 12.

The victim’s father tells CTV News that two dogs were spotted roaming the streets near their house.

“We assumed they belonged to someone in the neighbourhood. So we put them in the yard and attempted to find the owner,” said David Nolan.

“I gave the dogs some food and they started fighting…we tried to separate them which is always a mistake, but they were really going at it,” he explained.

According to Nolan, it was during the struggle that his son was bit in the hand.

“He’s probably going to keep his finger, but it’s a bad bite,” Nolan said.

Keith Scott with Animal Care and Control said they are investigating the incident but are also warning the public to wait for help before approaching stray animals.

“In these types of situations we want to make sure we have all the facts and make a good decision in regards to either turning the dog back to the owner, whether fines will happen, or whether or not we want to go to a further process of getting an order in place,” Scott told CTV News.

Officials said it’s unknown if the dogs belong to the same owner or if they are from different homes.

Both animals were taken into custody.

With files from Kelsey Nichols