Dog that mauled child might be returned to same Valley neighborhood

(Note: Graphic images/video)

A dog mauled a 5-year-old Valley boy. Now the family fears the dog will be free to attack again.

Little Dylan Moulder, just woke up Sunday after an 8-hour surgery. Three plastic surgeons worked to save his face after what the family calls a vicious dog attack. Now, the family fears the dog could bite other children. WHSV spoke exclusively with the family in Page County.

Before we proceed, we do want to warn you: some of the images in this story are very graphic.

Dylan Moulder used to shoot basketball at an outdoor hoop, but on Friday night, it was a different scene just around 50 yards away when a dog mauling took place.

According to family members, a neighbor's pit bull-Rottweiler mix attacked Dylan while he was playing with another child. A different neighbor saw what happened and rushed Dylan to his mother's house. Dylan's face had been ripped to pieces.

We have a photo of the injuries before surgery, but the image is too graphic to show on broadcast television.

Dylan was flown to UVa Medical Center for serious surgery.

Even the post-surgery photos the family gave of us of Dylan are graphic.

His grandmother said Dylan woke up Saturday night screaming in fear that the dog would return.

"Not only is he physically scarred, but he is emotionally scarred; you can't fix that," said Dylan's grandmother, Michelle Foster. "That is going to take a long, long time to fix that."

The family said the dog had no vaccinations so Dylan is also going through rabies treatment as a precaution.

According to the family, they were told the dog would be released to the owner and no charges would be filed. That's because the dog's owner told deputies that Dylan approached his chained dog and provoked it by throwing rocks, Dylan's family said. The family doesn't believe the dog owner's story, and also said: even if it were true, this level of violence should be enough for the dog to be put down.

WHSV contacted the Page County Sheriff's Office several times to confirm details and get their side of the story, but they have not yet returned our reporter's calls.

We did reach out to the dog's owner and he declined to go on camera until he knew what is going to happen to his dog.

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(Note: Graphic images/video)

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