Montreal girl still recovering from dog bite, mother asking the city to change its bylaws

A young girl in Montreal’s Lasalle borough is still recovering from a late-May dog bite on her face which required 20 stiches, and her mother thinks the city should adopt harsher bylaws to deal with such cases. 

Seven-year-old Athena Lafferty-Costley was playing in her neighbour’s yard with other kids when it happened, back on May 21. Her mother, Megan, says she hasn’t stepped foot in her own backyard since.

“It was the worst moment of my life, it was terrible,” she said.

At the time of the incident, a neighbour’s friend was visiting with their medium-sized dog.

“Athena asked first: ‘is it okay if I pet your dog?’ She said, ‘yeah it's okay,’” recounted Lafferty.

“And then, after the dog was crying, and Athena went to go pet it, it turned around and bit her face,” she said. “And then, the lady said ‘I told her not to go near the dog.’”

Lafferty says she rushed her daughter to the Montreal Children's Hospital. She was quickly sedated as she waited for the plastic surgeon to arrive.

“I watched them sew her face back together,” said Lafferty. Months later, she still has to massage her daughter’s face with cream twice a day, and to keep the scar out of the sun.

Athena says she’s still feeling shaken up by the ordeal.

“When I go near dogs, I'm scared,” she told CTV.

A Montreal mother says her daughter was bitten by a dog while she was playing in a neighborhood backyard on May 21, 2023. (Photo submitted by Megan Lafferty)

CITY DECIDES NOT TO EUTHANIZE

Her mother called the police and city as soon as it happened. The city opened a case, and a veterinarian evaluated the dog, which is of an unknown breed.

According to Montreal’s bylaw concerning domestic animals, dangerous or at-risk dogs may be euthanized, but it all depends on the evaluation.

“Their decision was that they're not going to put the dog down,” according to Lafferty, “They're going to require the dog to wear a muzzle and go to obedience school.”

She wants the bylaw changed to require that dogs that bite humans are euthanized. The current regulations are in effect till Aug. 22. The City of Montreal did not respond to CTV’s request for comment by deadline.

“They are living beings, they have teeth, they have emotions,” said Enid Stiles, a veterinarian on Montreal’s West Island. “We need to respect that.”

Stiles, who is not involved in the case, says the reason a dog chooses to bite someone is rarely black-and-white. She says evaluations also take into account the owner and whether the dog is likely to act out again in the future.

“Sometimes, there are a multitude of factors around the behavior of the dog,” she said.

“It’s not just that the dog decided 'this was a person they wanted to go and bite them,'” she added. “There might have been a fearful situation, there might have been something the dog was trying to get to, or couldn’t get to. The dog might have a mental health issue.”