A judge ruled Tuesday that a pit bull that mauled a 4-year-old boy earlier this year will spend the rest of its life in an animal shelter set up in an old jail by the sheriff for metropolitan Phoenix.
Judge Griffith had declared the dog vicious at a hearing a month ago but declined to have him euthanized after animal-rights advocates came to its defense. Instead, she ordered Mickey to be neutered and defanged and gave the Lexus Project, a New York-based animal-rights group and the dog's trustee, 30 days to find a rehabilitation center or shelter to take him.
The judge said the dog could not be put up for adoption.
The Feb. 20 attack left 4-year-old Kevin Vicente with a broken eye socket and jaw, and the boy has months, if not years, of reconstructive surgery ahead of him.
The case touched off a polarizing Internet debate on mercy, blame and animal violence, leading to candlelight vigils and riling up thousands of animal lovers on social media who placed blame with the dog's owners and child's baby sitter. Donations and gifts from around the world have flowed in for Kevin since the dog bit the boy in the face.
The sheriff, who is known nationally for his immigration enforcement efforts and housing jail inmates in tents, testified that he was confident that Mickey would be housed at the shelter for the rest of the dog's life.
"Kevin's injuries are so vast and so devastating that $2,500 is really just a drop in the bucket," Griffith said, adding that she doesn't want the dog to harm another person. That's when Sheriff Joe Arpaio stepped in.
Happy at the judge's decision, Sheriff Arpaio tweeted:
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