A stay of execution was granted Friday for two condemned pit bulls that mauled a woman last month in Sylvan Lake.
The stay was granted by Red Deer provincial court Judge Thomas Schollie so the dogs’ owner, Lance Lustig of Sylvan Lake could file an appeal to his decision on Nov. 17 to have the dogs destroyed within 10 days.
Lustig was granted 30 days, until Dec. 17, to appeal the decision.
The attack on Oct. 29 occurred in a field just west of Sylvan Lake. Pictures displayed in court showed the woman’s arm bloody, with a vein protruding. She was also bitten extensively on both feet and legs.
Lustig was present for the hearing on Nov. 17, under the Dangerous Dog Act, but had no standing in the hearing and only listened to the testimony of a bylaw officer and two RCMP officers who responded to the attack.
At that time, Schollie granted Lustig 10 days to mount a defence on behalf of the dogs, named Jack and Tyra, to keep them from being destroyed this Sunday.
She was attacked while walking the dogs for Lustig, who was away at the time.
The woman required plastic surgery.
The male dog, Jack, also bit a man in Sylvan Lake around noon the same day when that victim went to visit the house where the dogs lived.
The man suffered bites to his shoulder and arm and had to go to hospital for a tetanus shot.
The dogs were kept in a separate cage at the Red Deer County kennels.
However, two weekends ago, the male dog bit the tail off another dog that was being boarded there for the weekend in a separate dog run area. The pit bull managed to pull the other dog’s tail off under the bottom of a steel fence.