In brief : 8-year-old healing after dog attack

8-year-old healing after dog attack

An 8-year-old boy who was attacked by three dogs continues to heal and is doing well, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman David Thornburg.

“I visited the strong little guy again late this afternoon,” Thornburg said Thursday in a press release. “As far as the mother has been told, the boy will not need any additional surgery.”

The Otis Orchards boy is expected to be released from the hospital next week.

He was mauled Friday by two American bulldogs and a Saint Bernard mix in the 4100 block of Kenney Road, sheriff’s deputies said.

The neighbor who owned the dogs has agreed to have them euthanized.

Curlew, Wash.

Man’s body found at park turnout

Washington State Patrol and the Ferry County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the death of a man who died Wednesday afternoon at a park west of Curlew, Wash., according to a State Patrol press release.

Trooper Mark Baker said the Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call shortly before 5 p.m. regarding a man’s body that was found in the turnout of Beal’s Park, about eight miles west of Curlew.

The victim has not been identified. No other details were available Thursday.

Coeur d’Alene

Congolese minister to speak on Africa

Mande Muyombo from Congo, Africa, will lecture Tuesday on various human rights issues affecting children of Africa and the measures being taken to promote human rights, reconciliation and peace on the continent.

Muyombo, an ordained minister from Congo, will speak from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Human Rights Center in Coeur d’Alene. The presentation is free.

Children are welcome, but parental discretion is advised.

The presentation is part of the Human Rights Education Institute’s five-month-long Rights of the Child Exhibit & Events that opened April 1 in honor of Child Abuse Awareness month.

The exhibit includes 35 original pieces of art created by local youth, a traveling exhibit, a special teen multimedia exhibit and a children’s activity center. Posters of the original artwork are available for sale.

The Human Rights Education Center is on the northeast corner of Coeur d’Alene City Park, across from Memorial Field.

For more information call (208) 292-2359 or visit www.hrei.org.

AUBURN, Wash.

Freight train hits, kills woman

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train struck and killed a female pedestrian Thursday near the Sound Transit Station in this south King County community, police said.

The victim, described as 50 to 60 years old, carried no identification, police Sgt. Scott Near said.

The train was stopped for several hours after the late-morning collision, blocking West Main Street. Police are investigating.

BILLINGS

State mulls scaling back bison hunt

State wildlife officials are proposing scaling back Montana’s hunt of bison that leave Yellowstone National Park, saying last year’s hunter success rate was low.

“The first year, we had almost 100 percent success with plenty of bison out, but last year it was very different,” said Mel Frost, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Bozeman. “This is our response to try to mitigate for that.”

Last year’s success rate for bison hunters was 22 percent, the agency said.

The latest proposal would allow Montana to issue 40 bison licenses spread over three hunting periods from mid-November to mid-February.

Up to 110 additional licenses could be issued if more bison wander out of the park and into hunting areas during that time.

Last year, Fish, Wildlife and Parks issued 140 permits but only 31 were filled. The main reason was that few bison left the park during the hunt periods, mainly because of mild weather.

Montana reinstituted its bison hunt in 2005-06 after a 15-year hiatus. That season, 50 tags were issued and hundreds of bison wandered out of Yellowstone.

The new proposal would allow 15 either-sex licenses for bison in the Gardiner Basin for the three periods: Nov. 15 to Dec. 31; Jan. 1 to Jan. 22; and Jan. 23 to Feb. 15.

PORT ANGELES, Wash.

Search under way for missing hiker

A ground and air search is under way for a 45-year-old Arlington, Mass., woman overdue from a planned day hike in Olympic National Park, a park spokeswoman said Thursday.

Early Wednesday, a Seattle-area friend reported that Mary O’Brien was overdue from a Tuesday day hike to the park’s High Divide area, park spokeswoman Kathy Steichen said.

A ground and helicopter search began Wednesday and continued Thursday. More than 40 searchers, a dog team and two helicopters were on tap to search today, concentrating in the Sol Duc River area, Steichen said.

O’Brien was described as a strong, experienced hiker.

The teal blue Ford Escort she was driving carried Washington license plates and was parked at the Sol Duc Trailhead.

From staff and wire reports