Mickey the pit bull will spend the rest of his life in an Arizona no-kill shelter after mauling a 4-year-old boy.

PHOENIX — A judge ruled Tuesday that a pit bull that mauled a 4-year-old boy earlier this year will spend the rest of its life in an animal shelter.

Phoenix Municipal Court Judge Deborah Griffith said the dog named Mickey will be housed in the no-kill shelter that was opened in 2000 by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an animal lover who offered to take in the 4-year-old pit bull.

Griffith had declared the dog vicious at a hearing a month ago but declined to have him euthanized after animal-rights advocates came to its defense. Instead, she ordered Mickey to be neutered and defanged and gave the Lexus Project, a New York-based animal-rights group and the dog’s trustee, 30 days to find a rehabilitation center or shelter to take him. The judge said the dog could not be put up for adoption.

The Feb. 20 attack left 4-year-old Kevin Vicente with a broken eye socket and jaw, and the boy has months, if not years, of reconstructive surgery ahead of him.