Thousands have stepped in to plead for the lives of two dogs, one who bit the hand and wrist off a 4-year-old in Utah on Sunday afternoon.
The child put his arm in a sock and stuck it under the neighbor's fence, while their two huskies, Polar and Bear, were outside.
Davis County Animal Control director Rhett Nicks says the pair could be put down following the agency's investigation, citing "severe injury to a human."
The boy’s injury came as a shock to the owner of the huskies as it was the dog’s “first bite incident,” Layton City Police PIO Jason Cook told PEOPLE Monday.
“The homeowner says that the dogs are docile pets that have never demonstrated any aggression.”
Claiming that euthanasia would only cause "unnecessary emotional trauma on the family of the dogs," over 38,000 people worldwide have signed a petition asking that their lives be spared, calling the situation a "freak accident."