12-year-old girl recovers after allegedly being attacked by dog ​​in backyard in Chester, Pennsylvania

CHESTER, Pennsylvania (WPVI) – A young girl is recovering after she was attacked by a dog while playing in a Delaware County backyard this week, according to her family.

“My daughter could have lost her life,” said Robert Scott, Ryann’s father.

Scott said his 12-year-old daughter was attacked on Sunday.

Now, he says, she is being treated at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, and is trying to recover from the trauma.

Scott said she had to be hospitalized again on Thursday because doctors believed her wounds were infected.

“She’s in good spirits, but she’s just traumatized,” Scott said. “She keeps talking about what the dog did when it bit her and how it shook her and dragged her.”

Scott said Ryann was playing in her friend’s backyard on Elsinore Place in Chester, Pennsylvania, when the neighbor let the pit bull outside.

He says the dog jumped over the fence and bit Ryann several times.

“She said she kept her head down and curled up the entire time the dog was attacking her,” Scott said.

Scott said luckily a neighbor came to his aid.

“He threw a fan at the dog, and that’s how my daughter was able to run up the steps and escape the dog,” Scott said. “He definitely saved her.”

Ryann’s mother, Andrea Dennis, said she was taken to the hospital with Ryann after discovering her daughter had very deep bites on her arms and thighs.

“When I picked her up, you could literally see chunks of flesh on her,” Dennis said. “She was screaming and yelling and said she felt like she was going to faint.”

The Chester Police Chief said authorities are investigating the incident.

He said since the agency does not have its own animal control unit, they notified the Delaware County Health Department.

Ryann’s parents are concerned about her health, but they are also calling on the city government to improve its policies and procedures for dealing with pet attacks.

“We just have to deal with the pain that none of this has been resolved and also the traumatic experience that we went through,” Dennis said.

“I want justice for my daughter,” Scott said. “I want her to feel relief and not be traumatized for the rest of her life.”

Action News went to the dog owner’s house and called him, but no one answered.

So far, no charges have been filed in this case.