Child recovers after being mauled by 2 dogs in Fort Myers

A 7-year-old ends up hospitalized after he says two Rottweilers attacked him while he was playing.

Ryker Hayes, 7, is scarred but alive.

He now has 12 staples in his head and six stitches on the side of his body. “It’s all the way across here and then another bite all the way down,” Ryker said.

He is shaken up but is happy to be alive and is otherwise doing OK. Ryker also says he doesn’t remember much bout the attack except how scared he was. Fortunately, his two older sisters found a way to pull him over a fence and away from those two dogs.

Ryker says the dog came out of nowhere. “When we got over the fence they came out of nowhere and attacked me and my stepsisters.”

Ryker says the two Rottweilers attacked him on Monday when he and his sister were playing on a trail at Manuels Neighborhood Park in Fort Myers.

“They were strong,” he said.

The young boy and his sister jumped over the fence as a shortcut to get to the other side of the trail. That’s when, he says, the dogs came out and attacked.

Troy Hayes is Ryker’s father. “The dogs grabbed him as he was on the fence and pulled him back down. And then tried to get back up again and pulled him down again,” said Hayes.

Troy says his son then tried to escape a third time. That’s when the dogs bit him on the head. While signs are visible from the front of the home, there are no signs visible on the fence along the trail that his kids jumped over.

“I’m not necessarily blaming the dogs—if they were on their property, then they have the right to be aggressive—but at least there should be a warning, especially when you’re in a park near a high school,” Troy said. “There’s thousands of kids around here.”

If Lee County Domestic Animal Services determines that the dogs are dangerous, they could order the owner to confine the dogs and pay a fine. Potentially, it could go all the way up to euthanizing the dogs.

WINK News tried to talk to the owner of the dogs, but no one answered the door.