Mother wants to find dog that mauled her daughter in Queens

LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. (WABC) -- An angry mother in Queens is looking for the pit bull mix that mauled her 8-year-old daughter.

The dog bites ripped off half her mouth and tore into the young girl's head in Long Island City.

Katherine Nerovslavsky is still scarred from the 60 stitches doctors used to close her wounds back in August.

She still needs more surgery, but she can run and play with her brother now.

"They asked permission to pet the dog," said Maria Bersimenko, the victim's mother.

The pictures from that day are just too graphic to show without blurring out the most badly injured parts of Katherine's face.

40 stitches around her mouth alone, her mother thought Katherine might lose her right ear as well, after a pit bull lab mix snapped.

"She put two hands up on the dog's chest and expected him to lick her, and instead of licking the dog mauled her in the face and in the temple, and next thing I see is her running to me all covered in blood," Bersimenko said.

Medics came and rushed Katherine to surgery.

Bersimenko and other witnesses say a picture shows the dog that attacked her daughter, and police did interview the woman who was walking the dog.

Katherine's mom says they refuse to give her the name of the woman, because they say, there was no crime committed.

"I want to check to see if this dog has a history of bites," Bersimenko said.

The family does not want money from the owner. They just want to know if there are other medical things to worry about.

"I just want to see some papers, and I want to see some papers about the dog's vaccination," Bersimenko said.