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Mount Currie resident injured seriously after pit bull attack

Victim requires 53 stitches and goes home with cuts and bruises; dogs allegedly killed by owner

Three pit bulls involved in an attack on a Mount Currie Band member last Friday have been killed by their owner under orders from the Lil'wat government.

Mount Currie Band Chief Lucinda Phillips got the news Friday morning at about 8:30 a.m. from the Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police that a member had been "viciously attacked" by the three dogs, according to a news release.

Nearby residents witnessing the attack immediately called the RCMP and the Tribal Police. A female officer attending the scene was also attacked by a dog and had to get five to seven stitches.

The owner has killed the dogs, according to Phillips, and the community member is back home after receiving about 53 stitches.

"I think it's doing okay, a lot of bumps and bruises, scrapes, scars," she said. "Mentally I haven't spoken to him yet, so I also need to follow up."

Asked whether these particular dogs or their owner had been the subject of complaints before, Phillips said she was notified previously that there were two or three problem pit bulls within the community but she didn't have any information from the police as to whether they had attacked anyone previously.

"I know they've been flagged with me that there's two or three pit bulls within the vicinity of this area," she said.

Phillips said in a news release that the band will "not tolerate" any animals that show this level of aggression toward community members or anyone else.

She said that dog control has been an issue in Mount Currie for many years and that the band has taken steps with partners such as Whistler Animals Galore (WAG) to maintain a significant dog population within the community.

Just last summer, Phillips struck a partnership with WAG and the SPCA to indiscriminately pull dogs off the streets if they weren't fenced in or tied up.

The initiative ultimately disappointed her. She said at the time that volunteers picked up an estimated 28 dogs off the streets, not as many as she hoped for and not the most aggressive ones.

Phillips clarified, however, that the dogs involved in Friday morning's attack were not ones that she identified during the operation last summer.