A Green Cove Springs teenager says she needs reconstructive surgery after her neighbors’ dog bit off part of her ear.
“You wake up in the morning with both of your ears and it’s just really difficult to go to sleep with one,” said Hannah Hill.
Action News Jax first reported on Monday that Hill told deputies she was walking her dog Reesie when her neighbors’ dogs ran out of their yard.
“And then I had to hold her in the air like this. It was really bad because she was so wiggly and scared. So, like, if I dropped her, they could have killed her. And even one bite would have killed her because she’s so small,” said Hill.
“You wake up in the morning with both of your ears and it’s just really difficult to go to sleep with one.” For the first time, we're hearing from #GreenCoveSprings teen who says her ear was partially bitten off by her neighbors' dog. Watch at 5:30 on CBS47 @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/xhFeCqSalO
— Jenna Bourne (@jennabourneWTSP) July 31, 2018
That’s when she said Guss, a 1-year-old brown mixed-breed dog, bit off part of her ear.
“I passed out a couple times. It was really bad,” said the 17-year-old.
Clay County Animal Control took Guss away.
Guss’s owners said they still don’t know if they’ll get him back.
“He’s not a vicious dog. I mean, he just wanted to play. But with her holding the dog above her head, he thinks it’s a toy,” said Matthew Coburn, one of Guss’s owners.
Hill said her family is stressed about the costly reconstructive surgeries the doctor said she may need, but she has no regrets about trying to save Reesie.
“I passed out a couple times. It was really bad," Hannah Hill tells me. She says she'll need reconstructive surgery after her neighbors' dog bit off part of her ear. That story is coming up at 5:30 on CBS47 @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/sy1Wfmd2oY
— Jenna Bourne (@jennabourneWTSP) July 31, 2018
“She’s my number one best friend and I don’t think I could lose her. I’d much rather take an ear than lose her,” said Hill.
After Hill was hurt, Justin Vansoest, who also lives with Guss, said two men came over with weapons.
“They came over with a hammer and a hatchet, both of them. They wanted to physically go inside the house and put the dog down themselves,” said Vansoest.
Vansoest said he was hit multiple times with a hammer. He showed Action News Jax bruises on his back that he said are from the attack.
A Clay County Animal Control report mentions deputies “were taking statements regarding a physical altercation” involving “a hammer.”
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office report describes a “fight,” but the report is too heavily redacted to determine if weapons were involved.
Hill’s parents deny anyone attacked Vansoest with a hammer.
Cox Media Group
