Maryam Khalil Dog Attack Recovery

Hi, my name is Maryam Khalil and I’m a 20 year old student athlete in college located in Staten Island, New York.

WHAT HAPPENED:

On the weekend of November 25th my 5-moth old German Shepherd, Zara, and I went out to our favorite Staten Island dog park for our usual Saturday play-time.

Zara is a well behaved and joyful female pup. She loves the company of others and is happiest while exploring with the new friends she makes during her walks.

On this particularly cold afternoon, Zara was getting along with all of the dogs playfully and without issue, as we often frequent this park and she is very comfortable there.

A few minutes into her play session, a man appeared from outside of the park with his very loud, rambunctious, and obviously an un-neutered male dog. The other pet owners inside of the park immediately noticed the dog’s aggressive behavior and began to ask the man about his dog’s growling and whether or not he thought his dog tame enough to be inside of the park around other dogs.

The only reply that anyone was able to get from him, as he carelessly continued towards the park with his aggressive dog, “its okay, he is just overly emotional because he has not yet been neutered”

As he entered the dog park with onlookers watching him and his dog with caution, one of the pet owners even pointed out that the dog park rules stated that all dogs inside of the fence are to be neutered. The man continued to approach the dog park with zero regard for anyone else’s safety. the other dogs immediately could sense the aggressive presence of this un-neutered male and were reluctant to come near him.

Even my playful female Zara became timid and ran to me as soon as the man began to open the gate holding his growling and barking dog tight on the leash before letting him completely loose.

As soon as the man removed the leash his dog began snapping at other dogs in the park as they tried to stay out of its way. While Zara tried to run back to me, the aggressive new male noticed Zara and immediately charged towards her. He rammed into my puppy tackling her to the ground as she yelped and he began to bite her on the neck and pin her further into the ground. I immediately tried to save my pup from the attack and just before I could stop anything his dog charged at me biting my hand in two places ripping it open to the point that I could see bone exposed at the surface of the gashes.

Onlookers immediately surrounded me and secured my puppy while two boys came and removed the aggressive dog from the scene. The man, who was nowhere near his dog at the time of the attack, took hold of his dog and went to another section of the park in an attempt to leave the scene

Dog owners around me began to confront the man for bringing his dog in against park rules and then leaving it unsupervised. He denied that anything ever happened claiming (sarcastically) the his dog would never do something like that. He refused to apologize or acknowledge any of the incident.

I, myself even attempted to ask the man politely for his information in order to have a report filed and exchange insurance information, but he abruptly refused and doubled down on his denial that anything happened by becoming aggressive and rude towards me.

As I became faint and fell to the ground vomiting due to blood-loss the other dog owners called 911, wrapped my hand up, and before we could try to confront the man again he had left the scene to avoid all responsibility.

Now I am left to my own devices with very little health insurance to help with stitches, rabies shot treatment, and the medical costs that will ensue now to restore myself back to working ability.

I am a student and an athlete in college and the lack of accountability held in this situation has led me here to ask for any help that you may offer as I treat my wounds and get myself back to normal.