ORLANDO, Fla. — A 69-year-old Orlando woman is speaking out after she and her elderly dog were attacked by a pit bull while walking through a shopping plaza. She’s now warning others to stay alert and be cautious.
Shirley Pasamanick said the attack happened suddenly and without warning.
“All of a sudden, my dog’s getting attacked,” she recalled.
Surveillance video from the scene captured Pasamanick’s terrified screams and the cries of her 14-year-old dog, Sparky, as she desperately tried to fend off the pit bull.
Armed only with her cane, Pasamanick tried to defend her pet.
“I had my cane, I started beating him with the cane,” she said.
When that didn’t work, and fearing for Sparky’s life, the 91-pound woman took a desperate step.
“I had my hands on his mouth and tried to open its mouth. And I couldn’t do it because I wasn’t strong enough,” she said. “So I leaned down and bit him on the back of his neck.”
The attack stopped only when the pit bull’s owner arrived. According to Pasamanick, the man simply grabbed the dog’s leash and walked away without checking on her or her dog.
“I don’t know who he is. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t look at us,” she said.
Pasamanick was left with bite marks and bruises, but said the emotional trauma has been just as painful — especially because bystanders did nothing to help.
“I’d have felt better if someone would have helped me,” she said. “People just watched.”
The incident has left her physically and emotionally shaken.
“He needs to be put down,” she said of the attacking dog. “Something has to be done. I was shaking for days after this happened.”
Orange County Animal Control is currently investigating the incident.