The head of Kendall County Illinois’ animal control department has been placed on administrative leave after she admitted placing a dog that bit a 6-year-old boy with another family, instead of euthanizing it. Christine Johnson, the warden of Kendall County, Illinois animal control, said she euthanized another dog by mistake.

She has been placed on administrative leave, said Animal Control Committee chairman Anne Vickery. The dog, a Bull Mastiff, bit the boy a month ago at the county animal shelter and “we had every reason to believe” the dog had been euthanized, Vickery said. But during a special meeting of the animal control committee.

Johnson admitted that another Mastiff had been euthanized instead and the Mastiff that bit the 6-year-old had been adopted and was no longer at the shelter.

After the special meeting, board officials including Vickery went to the animal shelter to try to assess the situation there. “We’re trying to make sure that the public is protected,” Vickery said. Vickery said that officials were looking to getting the dog back from the family that adopted it. She called the situation “incredibly unfortunate”.

The 6-year-old was bitten July 3 at the animal shelter, according to the Kendall County sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the shelter that day and found the boy being treated by paramedics. The paramedics told the deputies that the dog’s tooth had entered the top of the boy’s cheek, about 1 inch below the eye, and had exited just below, resulting in two puncture wounds.

The boy’s father was present and saw the dog, a tan Bull Mastiff, bite his son.

An animal control employee told the deputies the dog was kept in a limited-contact part of the shelter that had signs warning that it was for employee access only and warning visitors to keep hands and fingers out of cages.

Story by Elaine Furst for Dog Files