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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, February 2, 2009

Family wants to apologize to dog-attack victim

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

BJ Bagood holds his daughter, Shelbi, 2 months, near their home in Kailua. Bagood's pit bull, Peanui, was euthanized after the dog attacked a child.

REBECCA BREYER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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To the woman walking with her baby who was attacked by a Kailua family's pit bull: Please come forward so the family can express their sympathy.

"We are so sorry it happened," said Shalei Bagood, owner of the 3-year-old pit bull. "The whole situation is so sad. I knew we had to put the dog down."

Yesterday, no one out on Hualani Street, where the Friday attack occurred, knew the name of the woman and her 17-month-old baby, who was in a stroller.

Police say the child was bitten on the face but the injury was minor and did not require stitches. It was the third attack by pit bulls in a week. The others occurred in Kapolei and Kalihi.

As soon as a neighbor called the dog's owner, Bagood and her husband, BJ, contacted the Hawaiian Humane Society and had the dog euthanized. Their other pit bull, a 13-year-old female, was removed from the house and given to a friend.

"We had Peanui since he was a baby," said BJ Bagood. "He was our pet. He never showed any signs of aggression. He was a good tempered animal."

The dog bite attack came on the heels of two other pit bull attacks last week.

Two women injured in Tuesday's separate pit bull attacks in Kapolei and Kalihi were initially hospitalized in serious condition, officials said.

In the first incident Tuesday, two pit bulls attacked a 59-year-old woman in her driveway on Kama'aha Avenue in Kapolei. The woman suffered lacerations to her right leg and left hand. Police said she fought the dogs off by punching them.

Later Tuesday, around 4:15 p.m., a Kalihi woman, said to be in her 60s, was attacked in her Kilohi Street driveway by a 60-pound brown pit bull.

Police are investigating both attacks.

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.