Pit bull attacks 32-Year-Old Puna woman, sending her to ICU

By Jeremy Lee

Click here for updates on this story

    PUNA, Hawaii (KITV) — A 52-year-old woman and her 32-year-old daughter were walking their two dogs here in the Ainaloa Estate subdivision in Puna on Saturday when they were attacked by not just one dog, but then a second dog, a pit bull from across the street.

The pit bull struck so viciously the younger woman was hospitalized in the intensive care unit.

Helen Buelow described the moment her daughter, Amber, was caught outside the fence to their home. Returning from a walk, the neighbor’s pit bull latched on her arm.

“And the dog had her arm like this and just flipping her and shaking. Blood was splurting everywhere,” Buelow recounted to KITV4.

This was the third time the pit bull from across the street had attacked Amber, she claimed, and this time it was focused solely on her.

“The dog didn’t even try to get the border collie or the one that was right here. It stayed right on my daughter,” Buelow said.

Now, 32-year-old Amber Clausen is in the ICU following surgery.

“This arm on my left, I may not be able to ever use again. There’s going to be lots of physical therapy. They don’t know the actual damage,” Clausen said.

Helen told KITV4 how a passerby in a truck had to tie the pit bull’s legs. And then he rushed Amber to a fire station.

“He put my daughter put in the back of the truck,” Buelow said.

Amber’s message to the Good Samaritan:

“Thank you so much. If it wasn’t for you, I would not be alive. I thought I was going to die in the truck,” she said.

Helen and Amber are in a rental home. Yet, they say as dog owners they spent money to extend their fence upward. Many in the neighborhood are critical of those who don’t fence their yard in entirely, allowing dogs to burrow out through the foliage and get out.

Moments before the nightmarish attack, a dog from up the street was also roaming on its own and bit Helen, she said. Amber had been walking Daisy, a border collie. Helen had their pit bull mix, Keaau, both on leashes the women told KITV4.

Neighbors say dogs roaming on their own has been a growing concern for years.

“Keep an eye on your dog. They’re your family. This shouldn’t happen to anybody,” Amber Clausen said.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.