Dog that attacked woman has been caught, victim pushing for changes

AUSTIN, Texas - Alexis Montgomery is now sitting in the hospital recovering after a severe dog bite she received last weekend. She doesn’t expect to leave the hospital until Thursday.

"It's sore. They have a wound pack on it that's draining dead stuff out and I think at the same time building a surface for a skin graft to go onto," she said.

The dog had been around the neighborhood for a while she said. Others have even reported the dog. "It evidently chased one woman but she was able to get away. But for some reason he parked at my house," said Montgomery.

A trap was set in her yard, and the dog was caught. But the fate is still undetermined. But what Montgomery is most concerned about is the response from Austin Animal Protection.

"It just didn't get the attention that it should have. When we called animal control they said we had to wait for 72 hours unless it's aggressive. We said he is aggressive and he's already bit me," she said.

When asked about this rule, the Austin Animal Center said

"The reason for the 72 hours is in part because of staffing and needing to manage priority calls (aggression, injured animal, rabies exposure) and the other part is that we've found when animals are kept in the neighborhood where they were found they are more likely to be reunited with their family."

The AAC said their animal protection unit is nowhere near adequately staffed for the service area of Austin and Travis County. There are 21 officers and four open jobs. Montgomery said staffing could be the difference between life and death.

"The city needs to look at that to see if we need some more assistance in that department," she said.

Montgomery also believes the dog should be put down. She said another person could have been attacked due to lack of response by the city.

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