Thousands of people have signed a petition to stop a dog in Utah from being euthanized after it bit off a young boy’s hand. 

KSTU reported that the child had put a sock over his hand and stuck his arm through a fence to play with two huskies living at his neighbor’s home. 

Layton Fire Battalion Chief Jason Cook told the station that one of the dogs bit the child hard enough to sever his arm and that two to three inches of his forearm were missing and “may have been ingested by the dog.” 

“He lost his hand from about this point down,” Cook said as he pointed to his wrist. 

The child’s father was at home during the episode and called 911 to report that his son had lost his hand. Officers arrived to find him comforting his son and trying to stop the bleeding. 

Both dogs are now in the custody of Animal Control and are being quarantined for 10 days, which is standard protocol. Cook declined to say whether they will be euthanized. 

According to WTHR, the best friend of the dog owner created a petition in hopes of saving the dog. It asks for 1 million signatures. 

“This situation is unfortunate on both sides. And now both dogs are in quarantine at Davis county animal control. There are fears that Bear might be put down and he doesn’t deserve to be put down for this freak accident,” the petition reads.

As of 4 p.m. Saturday, the petition has nearly 195,000 supporters. 

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