The approximate location of the dog bite.
KEARNY —
Health officials are on the lookout for a dog that badly injured a man in Kearny’s midtown area about three weeks ago.
William Pettigrew, Kearny public health investigator, said the victim, a 21-year-old man from Harrison, reported the incident at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8.
The victim told police that he was walking along Elm St., approaching Midland Ave., at about 8:30 p.m. that night when he was attacked by a white pit bull with brown spots and brown circle around the thigh and spike-like collar, Pettigrew said.
According to Pettigrew, the man was bitten in the groin area, the left buttocks, the left eye and left forearm. He was treated initially by Kearny EMS before being transported to Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville, where he reportedly received 15 stitches.
The victim was to be subjected to post-exposure rabies treatment, Pettigrew said.
Bergen County Animal Control, under contract with Kearny, was patrolling the area where the attack occurred and, that same night, came across a white pit bull on Columbia Ave. The victim was taken to check out the dog but said it was not the animal that bit him, Pettigrew said.
The sought-for pit bull reportedly approached the victim from the nearby Arlington Depot Park at Garafola Place between Elm and Forest Sts.
Two other animal bite incidents were logged earlier this month, Pettigrew said.
On Aug. 3, the Kearny Health Department was notified by FirstCare Medical Group in Lyndhurst that they were treating a 48-year-old man who told them he had been bitten on his left hand by a poodle, possibly tan, in front of 34 Beech St. in Kearny. Pettigrew said the man was advised to discuss further care with his physician.
And on Aug. 2, Pettigrew responded to Devon St. and Columbia Ave. on a report of a 25-year-old man being bitten. The victim told Pettigrew he had been petting a gray stray cat and the cat responded by biting his right wrist. The man was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center for treatment and was to undergo rabies treatment, Pettigrew said.
– Ron Leir
