Montana Girl, 3, Loses Arm In Attack By Pet Wolf-Dog -- Child's Condition Satisfactory

A 3-year-old Montana girl is in satisfactory condition at Children's Hospital after a pet wolf-dog bit off most of her right arm.

Dr. Ed Almquist said it appeared the animal "yanked" much of the girl's arm off. While the bone was bitten off midway up the right upper arm, nerves and skin tissue were severed as high up as her shoulder.

Elaine Sandvig, from Missoula, was flown to Children's Hospital early this morning after being attacked at the family's home. The arm, recovered from the wolf-dog's stomach, was too infected to try to reattach, Almquist said.

Next week doctors will graft enough skin to pull over her severed arm to prepare it to accommodate an artificial limb.

The attack is one of several reported this year involving the wolf-dog mix, which is gaining popularity.

On May 16, the left arm of 19-month-old Blake Barber of Ferndale, Whatcom County, was bitten off an inch below the elbow by a female crossbred wolf-dog that was kept in a pen with her puppy. The animal was killed and the arm recovered, but doctors at Harborview Medical Center were unable to reattach it.

In the past three years, wolf hybrids have killed six people in the United States, according to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which estimates the hybrid population to be 200,000.