PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The Children’s Museum is a place parents feel comfortable taking their children to.
But Ebony Chaney told 10 On Your Side she doesn’t feel that way anymore after she said her two-year-old son was bit by a dog that the Portsmouth Humane Society brought to the museum.
She said it all started when she and her husband took their kids to the museum on Saturday and the Humane Society had animals outside.
“My husband was wanting to know about how to adopt, so we stopped and talked to the lady about how to adopt,” Chaney said.
She said a worker was holding a Pit bull on a leash. Her son then tried climbing onto a chair that was next to the dog.
“As he tried to climb up on the chair, the dog snapped and bit him on the mouth and just sat back down,” she said.
She told 10 On Your Side she became frantic because her son was “leaking blood.”
“And the lady [Portsmouth Humane Society worker] is just looking at me,” Chaney said. “The dog is still right there. She never moved the dog. She never moved him back. There’s still kids around and the dog is still sitting there.”
She added that she knows not all Pit bulls are vicious because she has one herself.
“Our Pit bull is not a vicious Pit bull,” she said, “But it’s really hard for me to look at my dog and go, ‘Oh he’s [OK], you know, because of the situation. It’s just been a toll on me and my family in general.”
But after all this, she said she plans on suing both the Humane Society and the Children’s Museum.
“But with the Humane Society being a government entity, they might have immunity,” she said.
That’s a precedent she thinks should change.
“If you put someone in harm — because if it was me or somebody out on the street that had a Pit bull that they were being negligent with especially at a children’s museum where there are a bunch of kids, we would go under fire for it so I don’t see that being fair.”
10 On Your Side reached out to the executive director of the Portsmouth Humane Society, but there was no answer. We also reached out to the Children’s Museum and was directed to a voice mail inbox that was full. Portsmouth Police said they would get back to 10 On Your Side with information.
I also called the Children’s Museum and was directed to a voicemail inbox that was full.