A community in Toronto’s west end is horrified after a young student’s face was mutilated by an off-leash dog outside school property.
On the evening of May 12, a group of students were playing at Rawlinson Community School, on Glenholme Ave. near St. Clair Ave. W., when an off-leash dog approached one of the students and bit his lip off, Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Ward 9 Trustee Alexis Dawson told Now Toronto on Wednesday.
Dawson described the terrifying scene.
“It was a pretty severe injury, his lip was entirely detached, and he needed to be rushed to SickKids for emergency surgery. He will require further reconstructive surgery to his face as well,” Dawson said.
“Everybody is very shaken up. There was a fear of going to school, particularly after hours,” she added.
She says the intermediate student is currently doing well and she has maintained regular contact with his family.
“We know the student who suffered the attack. So, he’s a very popular and well-liked student. He is kind of a big brother to a lot of the students. He’s often the one supervising after hours, he’s a very responsible and well-liked boy. So, it’s just been devastating to the community,” she said.
At the time of the incident, Dawson says the owner was nowhere in sight and until now, the owner has not come forward.
“It’s hard to believe that they didn’t know that something went awry, because…there was so much blood and they bit his lip to the point where it became detached. And so there would have been blood all over the dog’s mouth. So, the owner would have had to have become attuned to the fact that there was an issue of an attack of some kind,” she said.
It is unknown what happened with the dog after the incident.
Despite there being multiple signs at every entry point of the school indicating no dogs are allowed on school grounds, Dawson says people frequently ignore, vandalize and even remove the signs entirely. In fact, people go as far as to break the lock of the fenced in area or slide through a small opening to allow their dogs to use the property, according to Dawson.
“Rawlinson is a huge open access, big, green space. So, there are three major access points to the grounds. It’s not fenced off, it’s not possible to restrict that access,” she explained.
Following the shocking incident, Rawlinson Principal Lorelei Eccleston sent a letter to parents and families urging them to “exercise extreme caution” when in the school yard outside of school hours.
As a parent herself, Dawson said she is concerned for her 11-year-old son and eight- year-old daughter.
OFF-LEASH DOGS A CITYWIDE ISSUE
Although this is the first time Dawson has heard of an incident involving older children, this is not the first time a serious incident involving an off-leash dog has happened in the city. According to Dawson, there has been a concerning number of off-leash dog-related attacks across the city ranging from mild to very severe in nature.
To form a solution, she worked closely with city councillor Alejandra Bravo, Principal Eccleston and parent council co-chairs. The team settled on three measures to tackle the issue:
- First, Dawson and Bravo are donating their 2022 election signs to be repurposed by students through an art project which will then be used to create their own “no dogs off-leash on school property” signage.
- Second, there will be a flyer initiative which includes parents sponsored by the school board and the city. In the coming days, parents will distribute flyers around the neighbourhood and inform dog owners on school properties about the risks of off-leash dogs.
- Finally, the last action is a school grounds improvement initiative at Rawlinson. The city donated money to the school for improvements and part of this deal involves a community access agreement. With this, the team is exploring the possibility of city bylaw officers coming on school property and ticketing dog owners, as a means to manage the situation.
Dawson believes the reason for the increase in dog population is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it is possible that some dogs are still adapting to socializing with humans, especially children.
REACTION FROM TORONTONIANS
Upon learning of this latest off-leash dog attack, Torontonians have begun sharing their reactions online and showing their support for the community.
