Woman loses ear, leg, set for more surgeries
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Courtesy of the GoFundMe page for Gertrude Bishop. Gertrude Bishop is pictured here.
A United States Army veteran and Hawthorne woman sustained “significant” injuries and had to be hospitalized after two dogs attacked her Friday, authorities said.
Gertrude Bishop, 86, remains at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville after the dogs reportedly bit her leg and ear, according to information provided by her son, Wayne Thomas on the family’s GoFundMe page.
He said Bishop received “multiple lacerations over all of her body, a damaged trachea, a right ear that was chewed off and a right leg so badly damaged from the attack that it had to be amputated.” The Hawthorne resident was attacked by the two dogs while unloading groceries from her car Friday morning, Thomas stated on the GoFundMe page.
“Right now all of my mother's major surgeries have (been) completed,” Thomas said in a Facebook message. “Her amputation surgery … Saturday was successful, and she has completed two of three deep cleanings of all the wounds she sustained during her attack.”
Bishop is scheduled to have her arm cleaned again Thursday and, if all goes well, Thomas said she will be scheduled for plastic surgery before the end of next week.
“Her throat was severely damaged during the attack,” Thomas messaged Wednesday. “And it was just today that she started to speak in complete sentences.”
The attack
Neighbors on Little Orange Lake Dr. reported hearing screaming from across the street Friday and saw Bishop being attacked by two dogs, later described as mixed-breed pit bulls, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. A neighbor reportedly told authorities the dogs belonged to another neighbor on the same street.
One neighbor stated when he heard Bishop’s screaming, he immediately ran to her and got one of the dogs off of her by hitting it with a chair, the incident report states. After that, the report states, the dogs returned to their property.
An animal control officer reportedly took custody of the dogs.
The law enforcement officers who responded to the scene reported that when they approached the house of the neighbor who owned the dogs, the two dogs “aggressively barked and growled at us.”
The dogs’ owner reportedly told authorities he did not know how his dogs got out of the yard but the dogs have escaped before through holes in the fence.
Deputies said they noticed the gate to the dog owner’s property was left open when they arrived on the scene, and when they contacted the owner, the owner said he knew the gate had been left open, the incident report states.
People who wish to donate to the family’s GoFundMe can visit https://tinyurl.com/yautw5au.
