Big Attack! Alabama Owner Reclaims Dogs Following Alleged Mauling of Mississippi Boy

DEBARYLIFE – A 6-year-old Mississippi girl was mauled by dogs that were ordered removed from their owner following many incidents in Mobile, Mississippi, after the owner obtained them illegally, according to several accounts.

The Stone County Enterprise reports that last month, as Liam Martinez, six, was playing in his backyard in Wiggins, Mississippi, he was attacked by dogs. In court, his parents stated that they witnessed two of the dogs putting their kid’s legs in their mouths and that they heard their son scream.

After being transported to the University of South Alabama Children’s and Women’s Hospital, the youngster had surgery that required 100 stitches, and another procedure was planned. According to his mother, her son can’t walk right now due to irreversible nerve and muscle damage, as reported by WPMI.

While 55-year-old Tamatha Lynn Melom lived in the Mobile region, her dogs were the cause of several attacks, one of which required 63 stitches to heal an elderly victim.

The canines that attacked the boy in Mississippi last month were the same ones who attacked the child in Mobile, according to microchips. They are compared as a mix of black mouth cur and pit bull.

The dogs were confiscated from Melom by the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office following the attacks, and early in the new year, a judge gave the canines’ custody to the rescue organization Mylo Foundation.

However, the organization claimed that the canines were never given to them; rather, they were given to a Mississippi rescue organization.

Melom relocated to Mississippi and settled in a camper close to the Martinezes’ Wiggins house. She acknowledged using Facebook to find people to adopt her pets and then return them to her, promising financial compensation, during her court appearance last week.

Melom admitted in court last week, “I do admit that I hired people to buy my dogs,” according to the Enterprise. “I suppose that was against the law.”

William Maxwell, a neighbor, said that his home’s security cameras record the dogs on his property several times every week. He claimed that on one occasion, 14 of Melom’s hens were killed by all five of his dogs. In addition, he thinks Melom’s dogs are to blame for his own dog’s disappearance.

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Another neighbor claimed that as her 13-year-old nephew was attempting to feed his dog, the dogs attacked him. The canines’ violent behavior in the city pound was also reported by others, such as Wiggins Deputy Police Chief Tim Hill. In one incident, the dogs were biting and charging at the kennel so violently that the dogs could not be fed.

Melom stood up for herself and her dogs, saying they were “innocent” and that Mobile Animal Control had “railroaded” her and her pets by fabricating the attacks.

The Enterprise reported that Melom did not apologize or show sorrow for the boy or his family at any point throughout the hearing held last week.

She displayed no regret. She was indifferent. According to Aries Fairley, the boy’s stepfather, “She was like, ‘Just don’t kill my dogs.'”

In the end, the Stone County judge ruled that all five of the dogs must be put to death, and Melom was fined more than $3,000 for breaking the Mobile court order and not having the pups vaccinated against rabies.

Melom may potentially be held accountable for the child’s injuries.

His mother, Devyn Phillips, told WPMI, “He can’t finish out his kindergarten year and that’s taken a toll on him.” “He’s afraid of dogs.” Our backyard scares him, so he’s always asking questions. Will this woman get any more dogs? Are they going to enter our property? are  Things not appropriate for a six-year-old to ask.

In a Facebook post over the weekend, Phillips—who called Melom “a demon”—said that Liam will undergo another surgery this Wednetoer to “remove the current sutures then they will begin closing the rest of his leg.”

Phillips said that in addition to several surgeries, including reconstructive surgery, her son will shortly start counseling for anxiety and PTSD brought on by the incident.