Boy who survived mauling by pitbulls honored as “mayor for the day”

WAUPUN — Jace Bunkoske, 7, was granted the honor of being “mayor for the day” and visited several city departments on Tuesday, including the Waupun Fire Department and Waupun Police Department.

He sat at the head of the City Council table with Mayor Rohn Bishop as two others involved in the incident were given Mayoral Recognition of Bravery at the Common Council meeting held Tuesday, June 10.

The incident occured on Friday, April 4, where three pitbulls attacked Jace while he was playing in his family’s backyard yard on the 200 block of Fond du Lac St with another neighbor’s child, Willow Hoinacki. The three pitbulls were owned by another neighbor, who did not leash them.

According to the report, they were playing in the yard when the three dogs attacked Jace. Willow ran to the house, alerting Alexa Bunkoske of the attack. Alexa ran out and threw herself between the dogs and her son, when a neighbor, Berto Guimarais, came out to assist in protecting Jace from the dogs.

Jace suffered severe injuries to his head and arm from the incident, and was life-flighted to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for surgery. He returned home the following Tuesday, and was able to return to school before the school year ended. Casey Bunkoske, Jace’s father, was also bitten by one of the dogs during the incident.

Both dogs were quarantined as they had not been up to date on their vaccinations, and once the quarantine period had ended were humanely euthanized. The owner of the dogs, a 42 year old Waupun resident, was charged with several charges of reckless endangerment, which could result in prison time if convicted.

Jace turned 7 on April 23, less than three weeks after the attack.

Mayor Bishop invited Bunkoske to be mayor for the day once he had healed enough, which worked out for Tuesday, June 10.

“He got to meet Angie and Kathy, and then we went across the street to the Police Department, and he got to meet several of our uniformed officers, including two who responded the night of the attack,” Mayor Bishop said at the City Council meeting. “And then we went over to the Fire Department where he got to meet firefighter and EMR responder Lance Thomas, who was on the scene the night of the attack, and [Jace] got to do some fun stuff with the fire trucks—play with the lights and the sirens and all the stuff they don’t let me do.”

Mayor Bishop also said they let him see places in the Police Department he had never been in before.

“I think the highlight of the day was when his mom told him not to take a cup of water and he said ‘I’m the mayor!’” Mayor Bishop said.

Mayor Bishop then presented two individuals with a Mayoral Recognition of Bravery.

Alberto Guimarais, a neighbor, was honored for rushing in to push the dogs away during the attack. According to the report, after Alexa Bunkoske had jumped on top of her son, Guimarais had run in and started hitting and kicking the dogs in an attempt to get them away.

Willow Hoinacki, the friend that Jace was playing with, was also honored for her role in the incident, having run for adults immediately when the dogs attacked.

Mayor Bishop thanked both on behalf of the City. Both humbly accepted the proclamations for their bravery.

Following the meeting, the family and friends who attended gathered outside City Hall.

“There’s probably not a day that goes by that we don’t think about it or talk about it, but we’re just so grateful that Jace is okay,” said Katrina Hoinacki, the mother of Willow Hoinacki. “Getting to see him almost daily next door, thriving, it’s a blessing. No doubt that God was there in that backyard.”

Alexa Bunkoske, Jace’s mother, was appreciative of everything the City has done for them since the incident, and that Jace was able to be mayor for the day.

“I think it’s amazing, he really liked it,” she said. “I’m really grateful to Mayor Bishop for recognizing Alberto and Willow, because they played a big part in making sure Jace made it out of this awful experience. It was a preventable incident, and unfortunately because it wasn’t prevented by the owner of the dogs, this happened.”

“We’re just thankful he’s here and he’s better,” Alexa said. “He’s doing really good. He’s very cautious around dogs he doesn’t know, but he’s still good around our dogs. He got his personality back, that is what made us the most happy—that he went back to being himself afterwards.”

She also said that their family was holding up, and they were hoping that everything would come to a close soon.

Jace and Willow were running up and down the City Hall steps as the adults were speaking, and after getting his attention he answered a few questions.

He said he had a lot of fun being mayor for the day, and when asked what his favorite part of the day was, Jace said “the hammer!”—the gavel in the Council meeting.

“I thank the people who helped me, and think they should get a piece of candy!” he said.

“It was such a cool thing and it will be a great memory for our family,” Alexa Bunkoske posted to Facebook Tuesday night. “We are so happy that our neighbors Berto and Willow received recognition for their bravery that day! We will never be able to say thank you enough! We also want to thank Mayor Bishop, Chief Rasch, Waupun Police Department, Chief DeMaa and Waupun Fire Department for having Jace, showing us around and being so caring with him! It’s a day we won’t forget.”

The City Council also heard from Fond du Lac County Supervisor Jon Venhuizen, who spoke on some items going on at the county level and in the City of Fond du Lac.