Ora Dean Gordly was watching the ground for signs of a dog as she walked through the Mountlake Terrace apartment complex.
She never saw the pit bull lunge from above until it was too late.
Gordly, 61, of Spanaway remains in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle more than a week after she was mauled by a pit bull while conducting a survey in Mountlake Terrace.
As a field researcher, Gordly keeps an eye out for dogs, looking for such things as water bowls and squeaky toys.
Since the attack, her life has been turned upside down.
Gordly, who values her freedom and physical fitness, couldn’t feed herself Friday night in the wake of her first reconstructive surgery. A longtime friend, Janice Young, had to feed her.
The 2-year-old pit bull tore at Gordly’s scalp and ripped chunks of flesh from her arms and legs, Young said. She’s on pain medication and must be given daily baths to keep the bites from becoming infected.
“People get older, and regardless of how good of health we’re in, we don’t mend like we did when we were 25,” Young said.
“When you still have got the risk of infection, you don’t know if you’re going to lose limbs. You just don’t know.”
Police are still investigating the attack and will likely forward their findings to Mountlake Terrace prosecutors sometime this week, Police Chief Scott Smith said Friday.
Police will not recommend for or against filing charges against the dog’s owner. That will be left up to prosecuting attorneys, Smith said.
Smith said he has never seen a worse animal attack. The injuries were “horrendous,” he said.
“You have to keep it in context of her basically being mauled by a wild animal, although it was a domestic dog,” he said.
The mauling occurred in the Maple Glen Apartments in the 5400 block of 212th Street SW. Gordly was walking through the complex at about 1:30 p.m. when the pit bull squeezed through the railings on a deck and jumped down at her.
“She didn’t even know it was coming until it was there,” Young said.
The dog’s owner tried to stop the attack, but the pit bull turned on her as well, biting her arms.
A police officer arrived four minutes after the first 911 call and found the dog gnawing on the woman’s scalp. He yelled at the dog, which turned toward the officer and charged him. The officer shot at the dog, hitting it at least once, Smith said.
The pit bull then ran back toward the apartment where its owner lives, and she was able to put a leash on it. The owner was treated for less severe injuries at Northwest Hospital in Seattle.
Animal control officers euthanized the dog immediately. It had not been allowed to run loose, and neighbors had never complained about the animal, Smith said.
Gordly was in surgery for five hours the day of the attack.
“She looked horrible, absolutely horrible,” Young said. “She won’t even tell me how many hundreds of stitches she has in her head.”
Gordly has spent most of her days sedated and sleeping since the attack.
Young has been helping to take care of Gordly’s 68-year-old husband, who didn’t want to comment for this story.
Gordly could walk before Friday’s surgery, but not without leaning against a wall. She refused to use a walker, Young said.
Now she must stay in bed and is not allowed to move her arms so the stitches stay in place.
Neither Gordly nor Young have spoken with the dog’s owner, Young said. The woman sent flowers to Gordly’s hospital room two days after the attack.
The flowers were a great gesture, Young said, but it doesn’t make her friend’s ordeal any easier.
“Do I get my whole friend back? That’s my concern,” Young said.
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