Pit bulls that injured woman not aggressive, says mother

Two pit bulls that sent aSurrey, B.C., woman to hospital for stitches on the weekend did not mean to attack, the woman's mother said on Tuesday.

In an email sent to CBC News on Tuesday, Debbie Tomko said her daughter Tami was released from hospital Monday night with stitches in her arm and was doing fine.

She also explained that Tami's injuries came not during an attack by the pit bulls, but while trying to break up a fight between the dogs.

"The dogs were not attacking her. She was in the way of their mouths," Tomko said.

"The dogs had gotten into a little tiff over attention," Tomko said. "My daughter stepped in the middle of it to break them up. It escalated and her arms got in the way."

Surrey RCMP said Monday they were called to the Surrey home on Sunday after receiving reports of screaming and yelling from the house.

The first officer who arrived encountered a grim scene and soon found herself worried for her own safety, spokesman Sgt. Roger Morrow said.

The police officer entered the house and found a blood trail, he said.

"[She] followed this to a woman that was lying down in a room within the home and it appears as though two dogs were over top of her," he said.

"At some point one of the dogs came towards our member with enough intensity, I would think, that the officer felt fear for her safety, and dispatched one dog with one round," Morrow said.

Tomko said in her email the officerwent too farwhen she shot Birch, a third dog apparently not involved in the initial scuffle.

"She overreacted [and] said 'stand down,' which the dog didn't know as a command and then shot her as my daughter was begging her not to," Tomko said.

In a phone interview with CBC News on Tuesday, Tomko said she can understand the officer's perspective, but her daughter is devastated at the loss of a treasured pet.

Tami Tomkois a member of a group called Bully Buddies, which aims to rescue and rehabilitate pit bulls and to show the public the good side of the animals.

Bully Buddies spokeswoman Amanda Muir said the dog shot dead by RCMP was a family pet.

"The dogs were fighting over a toy. She got involved, and that's why she was injured," Muir said Monday. "Neither of the dogs that were involved have any history of people aggression.There was no aggression that was aimed for her. It was not intentional."