Family Saves Boy, 2, From Pit Bull

Brent Stofer may owe his life to his mother and sister.

They pulled the 2-year-old from the jaws of a pit bull Monday night.

Kim Stofer says she was in the family home in the rural, northern California community of Prunedale, when she suddenly heard Brent "screaming violently" in the backyard, which is fully enclosed.

On Wednesday, she told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen that she and Brent's 12-year-old sister "raced out of the house, and we could see the pit bull on my son. He had him pinned down, and his teeth were locked on to his stomach.

"My other two dogs were trying to get at the (pit bull). We raced over there, and I grabbed his jaws, and my daughter … helped me pull his jaws open, and we were able to get them out cleanly so they didn't rip (Brent's) stomach.

"I grabbed the dog by the back of the collar and lifted him and threw him over our metal gate, and I just praised God that we had the strength to do that, because I know that their jaws can lock like a vice grip, and also just be able to throw him over the gate."

After they threw him over the gate, she says, the dog lunged back.

"His mouth was all bloody from his teeth being inside of (Brent's) stomach," she says, "and he lunged back to attack me, and I held the gate closed. And he knew he could pry the gate open enough to get at us, and that's what he wanted.

"So, my daughter ran back to the house with the baby and she called 911, and then I held the gate and I had a scooter that I started — I thought that I could scare him away by hitting him with the scooter, but he became more violent than ever, and just kept lunging at the fence. … It was like a nightmare. I knew I needed to help my son but …"

Emergency workers arrived and subdued the pit bull with a fire extinguisher.

Kim says Brent is feeling much better.

"He got abrasions all over his body, and he has 10 bite wounds to the stomach," she says. "He was just protected by God, because his bite wounds were, although they were deep, they went just to right before his organs and right before his stomach wall. … If they would have punctured them, he would have had internal bleeding and possibly would have died from that."

Brent is recovering in Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, Calif., and could be released as soon as Thursday.

Kim says she had never seen that pit bull before, though she has seen another pit bull in the neighborhood, and she believes there are people in the area who are breeding pit bulls for fighting.

She adds that the dog had a collar, so it belongs to someone, and no one has stepped forward to apologize. Kim says she's very angry about that, as is her husband, who was away on business when the attack occurred.

The attack on Brent comes on the heels of several others in northern California this summer.

In one instance, a 12-year-old boy was killed by two pit bulls owned by his family.

Then, an 8-year-old girl was mauled by a pit bull and seriously injured.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome appointed a task force to look into the dangers of pit bulls and is calling for legislation to regulate their ownership and breeding.

The California Assembly took his lead and approved legislation that would include breeding restrictions on pit bulls. It still has to go to the state's senate.

Some cities have tougher laws. Boston, Denver and Cincinnati ban the animals outright.

"There needs to be stricter laws," Kim says. "I don't want to just pinpoint pit bulls, because I know some people raise them to be friendly. But the dogs that are violent, and the dogs raised to fight — the dogs that are vicious — those are the dogs that need to be addressed."