A 63-year-old Pennsylvania man passed away months after he was attacked by multiple dogs and had to undergo surgeries.
In October, Antonio Shaw accidentally went to the wrong home in Philadelphia when two “vicious and hungry” pit bulls pounced on him, his sister told WPVI.
“These dogs were eating him like a piece of steak,” Sharese Jackson added.
He was unable to scream during the attack due to being non-verbal, a result of suffering from strokes, according to the report. However, a neighbor was able to call the police to help him.
Shaw was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. His other sister, Michelle Shaw, told the news station that he eventually had to get his leg amputated because of an infection from the dog bites. He succumbed to his injuries earlier this month on Dec. 4.
“It just didn’t go well for him. He was hanging in there, but it just turned for the worse,” Jackson said.
Shaw was beloved by his family, and his funeral is reportedly set for Dec. 15. He had three children and 12 siblings.
“I want Antonio to know we love him, and he will never be forgotten, and he was a great person,” Shaw continued.
During the attack, responding officers were able to shoot both animals, fatally striking one of them, per the outlet. The second one, which was injured, was euthanized. No one was charged in this case.
In the state, a dangerous dog is considered as an animal that has caused injury to a human or domestic animal without “provocation” in public or on private property. The incident involving Shaw is one of the others where dogs in Philadelphia have attacked people and other pets.
Earlier this year, an FBI agent was cleared of wrongdoing after fatally shooting a 7-year-old pitbull that attempted to attack her dog in February, local news reported. The incident sparked local protests.
“People just assume that pit bulls are aggressive, but in reality, they are very, very loving,” an animal rights activist told WPVI at the time. “Just give them a chance and obviously don’t shoot them dead.”
About a month later, a man opened fire on a pitbull that injured two women. In 2022, two dogs assumed to be pit bulls bit a 1-year-old multiple times on a back deck, leaving the toddler hospitalized. The same year, a 5-year-old girl was mauled by a pit bull while playing outside, leaving her mother to start a GoFundMe for her cosmetic surgery.
