The city's animal control officer is expected to take over the investigation today involving a pitbull that bit two children within 24 hours of being brought home by a Manchester couple.

The 80-pound pitbull, which may have come from Nashua, attacked a 12-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, according to police Lt. James Soucy.

"The animal control officer will take the lead with the main focus of the investigation being to locate the previous owner of the dog and trying to locate paperwork on the animal," said Soucy. "At this time, we have no documentation, no paperwork, and we want to determine if the dog has had its proper shots and vaccinations. Right now, we have none of that."

The attack occurred at the home of Shawn and Nancy Innie , 134 Orange St., Apartment 1.

According to police, the girl suffered bites on an arm, and the boy suffered puncture wounds and lacerations to his face that required about 10 stitches to close.  Both children were treated at a hospital, Soucy said.

The Innie's acted quickly once the attack occurred, pulling the dog off the children and placing it in a nearby room of the apartment until police arrived. Officers removed the dog from the dwelling and brought it to the Manchester Animal Shelter to await the investigation.

Both the father of the young boy who was attacked and the mother of the girl who was attacked stated "I'm a very proud pitbull owner," stated William Hallstrom, the father of the 7-year-old boy, "I own two of them and they are extremely loyal and affectionate."

"I am also very proud of my son. When he came home after the attack, he was not afraid of the dogs that we own."

Hallstrom stated that his son received 10 stitches and part of his ear needed to be super-glued back on.

Nancy Innie also defended the pitbull breed. "This could have happened with any breed of dog," she said. "My children have been raised around pitbulls. My autistic daughter cut up her uncle's pitbull with a pair of scissors and the dog did not do anything to her."

The Innie's are upset about the flood of negative comments on websites that have posted the story.

Nancy Innie stated that they are receiving harassing phone calls and people are yelling at their house when they pass by on the street.

She also said they did not purchase the dog, that it was given to them after they spent two hours talking to the owner and getting to know the dog.

The Innie's said they will pursue legal action against the man they received the dog from, as he did not tell them the dog previously attacked other children.

The Innie's told police that the dog attack was unprovoked.

Soucy said police are trying to determine the identity of the dog's previous owner.

Said Soucy: "Right now, we have just a single name associated with the listing. The couple went to an address, we believe in Nashua, to pick up the dog, but we are trying to obtain the full name of the dog's prior owner. At this point, we are just trying to determine the safety of the animal and want to make sure it is up to date on everything it should have had done."

The selling of pets on the Craigslist Internet site is typically prohibited, according to the site, but ads for "re-homing with small adoption fee" are allowed. Police have not said what type of ad the Innie's responded to.

As a part of the investigation, officials will determine whether the pitbull is a "menace."

Under Manchester regulation 466:31, a dog can be considered to be a nuisance, menace or vicious to persons or property when the dog, "whether alone or in a pack with other dogs, bites, attacks, or preys on game animals, domestic animals, fowl or human beings."

Update: 8/31/10:  The animal control office in Manchester says a pitbull brought on Craigslist attacked two children has been put down.  Manchester Animal Control acted at the request of the dog’s owners.

Reference:

Union Leader