Man sues animal shelter after adopted dog mauled him (graphic photos)

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A man is pressing charges after the dog his mother adopted mauled him just one day after it was brought home.

 

Anthony Pavone, 24, filed suit against the city’s animal pound for allowing the dog to go home with them, The Post has learned.

 

Pavone is suing the Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC) claiming the “dog was dangerous and should never have been offered to the general public,” according to his Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed last week.

 

Pavone said he was left with a chunk of muscle missing from his right arm after he was attacked by Jaxx, a 5-year-old boxer pitbull mix, on May 12, 2019.

 

 

His mother Christine – who has since died of cancer – had adopted the 86-pound dog from ACC on May 11, and brought him back to their Graniteville home.

 

The next morning, on Mother’s Day, the dog lunged at Pavone’s father.

 

Pavone recalled: “In the morning, my father went to drink water and the dog tried to attack him.”

 

He added that his dad, “lifted up a Swiffer to defend himself and the dog broke the Swiffer and threw it to the side.”

 

Jaxx “had my dad pinned in the kitchen and I grabbed him by his collar … then he calmed down,” Pavone told The Post.

 

After going out as a family for a Mother’s Day meal, Pavone was about to leave to meet friends when Jaxx again became aggressive and twice tried to attack him, he said.

 

The first time, Pavone said he yelled at the dog and it backed down. Then as Pavone tried to leave again, he said the dog “went right for my leg”.

 

“I jumped back … I fell down the steps and that’s when he went for my neck,” Pavone said. “I put my hand up and he got my arm and the top of my head. That’s why I was bleeding all over my face.”

 

 

“Then he started ripping into my right arm and playing tug of war with it.” Pavone said.

 

 

Christine threw a chair at the dog who released Pavone’s right arm, before going for his left arm. Finally, Pavone’s father yanked Jaxx by the collar and put him on the patio, Pavone said.

 

“I was really surprised, adrenaline was pumping,” Pavone said. “I was trying to get my arm back.”

 

Pavone was hospitalized and needed surgery on his right arm, which still has a piece of muscle missing. He said he also had puncture wounds on his head and on his left arm.

 

 

Pavone said the attack came as a shock because he had gotten along well with the dog after his mother brought it home.

 

He said: “I took him for a walk. I fed him. That night he slept with me right by the couch. I wondered why he would do this because I treated him so good. I was in shock and I was so upset.”

 

Ever since the attack, Pavone said he gets nervous around dogs.

 

He said: “I was never afraid of dogs. I had a bunch growing up. After that incident, I was worried every time I walked past a dog.”

 

Pavone said the shelter called Jaxx “the friendly giant” before they adopted it.

 

He said: “I think they should have done more research on the dog. There had to be something wrong with him. There was no reason for him to act like that. He was very vicious.”

 

He added: “I would hope this would never happen to someone else again.”

 

He noted that his 6-year-old nephew was present during the attack.

 

 

“If that would have happened to [my nephew], he would have been killed,” Pavone said.

 

His suit says that the ACC failed to properly “screen” the dog before allowing it to be adopted. The ACC also “failed to provide an adequate warning to the adopter,” the filing alleges.

 

Pavone is suing for unspecified damages.