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Mother of 5-year old mauled by dogs in Detroit describes horrific injuries

Posted at 2:20 PM, May 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-12 14:49:56-04

The 5-year old mauled by multiple mixed-breed dogs in Detroit is still in the hospital recovering. Johnay’s mother, Latoya Benson said the dogs almost pulled the girl’s intestines out of her stomach and she has injuries to her chest, back, head and one arm.

Her mother said Thursday that her daughter underwent surgery but continues to get better, despite being in a lot of discomfort. She is able to talk, despite having a tube down her throat. She keeps asking to go home and go back to school. "She wants the tube out of her mouth, you know, she's talking with the tube in her mouth."

"She's stitched up, she's stapled up, she's bandaged up. She's good," Ms. Benson said. "You know, I'm not planning no funeral. I'm not doing none of that. My baby's here."

The girl's father attempted to drive her to the hospital after the attack but got into an accident and hit a curb. They were then helped by a stranger, who saw they were in trouble and drove them the rest of the way to the hospital.

The attack happened at a home in the 6200 block of Holcomb. That's near Harper and Gratiot on the city's east side.

Police are still looking for three dogs, including one that is part wolf, believed to be involved in the brutal attack of a 5-year-old girl Tuesday.

The dog that is a part wolf is described as being more than 85 pounds. One of the other dogs is a mixed breed-female, white, fluffy and weighing between 60 to 80 pounds. There is no description on the third dog.

Police told 7 Action News they believe 48-year-old Kenneth Wiseman, who owns the dogs, may have hidden them because one of the dogs was involved in a previous bite case.

Wiseman was arrested on the former dog bite and traffic violations. He was supposed to surrender that one dog but never did. Misdemeanor warrants were issued for Wiseman's arrest, and police say he actively avoided animal control by moving the location of his dogs.

Tuesday's attack happened when the girl and her father were visiting Wiseman’s home on Holcomb Street.

Johnay went outside to play with the dogs, and was attacked by multiple dogs. Police say only 9 of the 12 adult dogs believed to have been at the house at the time of the attack have been seized.

However, it does not appear that the nine dogs seized by animal control were involved in the attack because no blood or human tissue was found on them, said police.

Animal Control officials visited Wiseman’s home about two weeks ago after getting a complaint about the high number of dogs he had. A single household can only have four dogs. They made contact with someone at the house and told them they had two weeks to "find other homes for some of the dogs to be in compliance with the City's Animal Control Ordinance that limits the number of dogs in one dwelling to four. Today would have marked the end of that two week compliance period," city officials said in a statement to 7 Action News.

The statement went on to say that the "animal control officers who responded to this complaint did not have access to information about the criminal complaint associated with this owner and address and so the actions they took that day were appropriate based on the information they had at the time."