SAN LEON — A 9-year-old girl had her ear torn off and her left arm severely wounded after a neighbor’s dog mauled her Saturday afternoon, sheriff’s office and fire officials said.

The girl was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital, where she was listed in serious condition, while the dog was turned over to Galveston County Animal Control, which also is investigating the attack.

Galveston County Sheriff’s Major Ray Tuttoilmondo said the girl was playing with a friend at a neighbor’s house in the 900 lock of Ninth Street in San Leon about 11 a.m. when the dog’s owner opened the back door to check on the children. That’s when the dog reportedly bolted from the house and attacked the girl.

The dog tore the girl’s left ear off and bit her several times on the left arm, cheek and hand. She was taken by air ambulance to the children’s hospital in Houston, San Leon Assistant Fire Chief Scott Lyons said.

The breed of the dog was not in the sheriff’s report, but Lyons said it was a pit bull. The dog’s owner voluntarily turned the animal over to animal control and reportedly told officials that the dog had attacked a child who lived at the house before, Tuttoilmondo said.

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office had no other reports of dog attacks at that house, Tuttoilmondo said. No charges were filed against the dog’s owner Saturday, Tuttoilmondo said.

EMS personnel also treated the injured girl’s mother at the scene after she complained on stress-related health problems, the sheriff’s spokesman said.

(News Media: For more information contact Kurt Koopmann, GCHD Public Information Officer, (409) 938-2211)