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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Dog That Mauled Baby Loses Reprieve

LAS VEGAS (CN) - A dog that fatally mauled a toddler can be put to death, a Clark County Court judge ruled.

Judge Joanna Kishner canceled a restraining order issued earlier this week that halted the destruction of Onion, a 6-year-old mastiff-Rhodesian ridgeback mix, until a hearing could be held Friday.

Jeremiah Eskew-Shahan was celebrating his first birthday when he used the dog's fur to pull himself up, and the dog bit the toddler on the head and shook him.

After the boy died at the hospital, his parents turned Onion over to the Henderson Animal Control and asked him to be euthanized. The center deemed the dog "vicious" and had him quarantined until he was to be euthanized May 8.

But the Lexus Project, a New York-based animal rescue group, filed an 11th-hour restraining order in Clark County Court; and a judge temporarily halted the dog's execution pending a hearing Friday.

Attorneys for the City of Henderson argued that they had the right to put the dog down because the family willingly turned the dog over for that purpose.

Kishner ruled that the animal rights had no legal footing to stop the city from putting down the dog.

Protestors both for and against saving Onion picketed outside the courthouse during the hearing.

The ruling's not official until it's officially filed, and the Lexus Project plans to appeal.

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