Teen babysitter saves baby mauled by pit bull

‘She bravely tried to fight off the dog,’ says father

A Fresno, California, father has spoken out with praise for his teenage babysitter who saved his baby son from a pit bull earlier this month.

Cortney Neal said his 15-year-old babysitter was watching his four-year-old and seven-year-old sons when a pit bull got loose and attacked the younger child, Carson.

He told KPRC-TV in an interview last week that she helped save his son’s life during the attack, which ended with the pit bull’s owner pulling the dog away.

The babysitter stayed with Carson and yelled for help while also holding on to the dog’s collar, Mr Neal said.

“She bravely tried to fight off the dog,” he told the TV station. “She never left him. We couldn’t have asked anything more than what she did.

The two children had been walking through the neighbourhood with their babysitter when the dog allegedly became loose and attacked Carson, who Mr Neal said has a fear of dogs.

“He’s like, ‘the dog was big, dad. The dog was big and black and he dragged me.,” Mr Neal told the TV station. “He’s scared of dogs. I think they were trying to run but he froze. He told me he froze. He’s like, ‘I kind of froze, dad’”.

An image shared on GoFundMe by the family of Carson, 4, who was attacked by a pit bull (Esther Zero / Cortney Neal / GoFundMe)

Carson was placed in ICU unit and needed stitches to his back, arm, and two surgeries to repair nerve damage on his face and jaw, his father told reporters.

“I haven’t seen a tear come out of his eye,” his father told the TV station. “ I think we’ve cried more than him”.

A GoFundMe for Carson has seen more than $7,000 in donations, with the family providing updates on the fundraiser about his treatment.

On Tuesday, he was released from an ICU and and was slowly making progress, his family said, adding: “He has no balance to walk on his own yet. Slowly but making progress. He is out of ICU and in a regular room. Thank you all for all your prayers and donations. God Bless you”.