Child bitten by dog at Adirondack Balloon Festival — NEWS10 ABC

WARREN COUNTY (NEWS10) — The Adirondack Balloon Festival took an unexpected turn on Friday when a three-year-old boy was bitten in the face by a dog he tried to pet. Authorities are now searching for the animal involved to confirm whether the child requires rabies treatment. Emily Matuszczak and her partner, Tyler Ennis, were preparing […]

WARREN COUNTY (NEWS10) — The Adirondack Balloon Festival took an unexpected turn on Friday when a three-year-old boy was bitten in the face by a dog he tried to pet. Authorities are now searching for the animal involved to confirm whether the child requires rabies treatment.

Emily Matuszczak and her partner, Tyler Ennis, were preparing to leave the event on Saturday when their son, Trent Morgan, was nipped by a gray pit bull named Zara. According to Matuszczak, the incident happened suddenly.

“My son reached out to pet the dog, and she just snapped right in his face,” Matuszczak said.

Following the bite, the dog’s owner quickly left the scene, ignoring bystanders who reportedly asked her to stay and provide vaccination records. Without confirmation of Zara’s vaccination status, Trent may need to undergo a series of vaccines to prevent rabies infection.

“We don’t want to put the dog down,” Ennis explained. “We just want to make sure Trent doesn’t have to go through unnecessary treatment that will be painful and traumatic for him.”

The family is now working with Warren County and the Sheriff’s Department to find the dog’s owner before Trent is forced to start rabies prevention treatment, which must be administered promptly. According to Don Lehman, Director of Public Affairs for Warren County, rabies is almost always fatal if left untreated.

Lehman explained that if authorities had been able to contact the dog’s owner on Saturday, “They would have just asked her, ‘Has your dog been inoculated against rabies?’ If she said yes and could show the certificate, that would have resolved it.”

Both the family and county officials want to clarify that they do not believe Zara should be euthanized.

“We just want to put all this behind us,” Matuszczak added. “We don’t want anything bad to come out of this. We just really want what’s best for our kid and the dog as well. We don’t want any harm to come to anybody, we just want to make sure everyone’s healthy.”

The investigation remains ongoing as officials continue their efforts to locate the dog and confirm its vaccination status.

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