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PHOENIX (AP) — A pit bull that was ordered confined for the rest of his life after he mauled a 4-year-old boy was moved Wednesday from Sheriff Joe Arpaio's animal shelter to a medical facility where veterinarians can more easily treat the dog's skin cancer.
John Schill, an attorney who defended the dog named Mickey a year ago in a vicious-animal case, said the Phoenix municipal judge who spared the pit bull's life agreed to the move. Still, Schill emphasized that the dog can't be put up for adoption or have contact with the general public.
"It's just a different facility now," Schill said shortly before he and Arpaio escorted the dog to a vehicle that would bring him to the medical facility. Schill and Arpaio declined to say which facility will now care for the dog.
The February 2014 attack left 4-year-old Kevin Vicente with a broken eye socket and jaw. An adult who was at the scene asked that the dog be euthanized, saying Mickey had a history of acting without provocation and killed one of her dogs.
Thousands of animal lovers took to social media to support Mickey.
About a month later, Phoenix Municipal Court Judge Deborah Griffith declared the dog vicious and ruled that he be neutered, defanged and microchipped. Still, the judge declined to have Mickey euthanized.
Arpaio offered to keep Mickey in his no-kill shelter set up in an old jail. The dog lived there for 13 months.
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