Pit bull attack leaves 21 kids and teachers injured on Missouri school playground

A pair of dogs identified as "pit bull mixes" injured 18 students and 3 teachers during a harrowing playground attack at a Missouri middle school on Tuesday afternoon.

As reported by the Springfield News-Leader, chaos ensued at Willard Intermediate South when the two pit bulls ran onto the unfenced campus from the nearby neighborhood and began to attack the fifth- and sixth-graders.

A total of 21 individuals were injured, though most were minor. Only six — three teachers and three students — were bitten, scratched, or otherwise wounded seriously enough to require immediate medical attention, and were taken to a local hospital via ambulance. 

Willard Public School District communications director Heather Harman-Michael, recounted the horrifying dog attack to the local outlet.

"We had district administration and we had nurses and counselors from other buildings come to Intermediate South to be of assistance," she said.

"They were all out to recess when the dogs came on campus, or onto the playground area. There were a lot of students who saw it."

Animal control officers responded "within 10 minutes," and took custody of the pit bulls, which the owner voluntarily gave up, said Harman-Michael.

The two dogs were reportedly euthanized on Wednesday.

In the last decade that dog bite statistics have been available, it was determined that 185 out of the 430 fatal dog bites in the US were from pit bulls, and pit bull mixes accounted for 41.

In total, pit bull and pit bull mixes accounted for 226 fatalities, or 52.5 percent of all deadly dog attacks.