A Florida mother is distraught after being placed behind bars for child neglect due to her daughter being attacked by a dog inside their home.
According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, Chloe Wisniewski, 21, of Port Charlotte, was arrested on June 16 and charged with child neglect.
Wisniewski’s arrest came nearly four months after the Feb. 14 attack, in which she supposedly left her baby in a bassinet in the same room where she kept a 3-month-old pit bull mix puppy she had recently bought off Facebook.
Wisniewski went to take a “quick shower,” but suddenly heard screaming. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Apollo, the puppy she had just bought 24 hours earlier, inside the bassinet chewing on the infant’s hand.
The baby, whose age has not been released, was rushed to a nearby hospital. Doctors had to amputate three fingers from her left hand and partially amputated two fingers from her right hand too.
The dog was taken into custody by the Charlotte County Animal Control. Apollo was then quarantined as part of protocol and transferred to the Animal Welfare League.
The Department of Children and Families conducted an assessment of Wisniewski, whose urine analysis allegedly tested positive for THC at the time.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office eventually found probable cause that Wisniewski did, by culpable negligence, ail to provide the baby with the care and supervision and services necessary to maintain physical health. Due to her actions, the infant faced permanent disfigurement.
Brian Jones with Charlotte County Animal Control said, “This is the first time in my 25 years of service that I’ve heard of an attack like this. We have seen people lose body parts over animal attacks but this one is unique because it was a baby confined to a crib.”
Police have reported that the infant is recovering well and is being well taken care of by family members.
Wisniewski was recently released on a $7,500 bond and granted supervised visitation.
