“Many people came to the scene in a bid to assist. All we wanted was to loosen the dog’s grip to free my boy from the dog”
A NINE-year-old Galeshewe boy is in hospital and is expected to undergo plastic surgery after he was attacked by a neighbour’s pit bull.
Shocked community members had to struggle to get the “vicious” dog to release the boy, whose thigh was badly mauled.
The community is now calling for the dog to be put down as it was not provoked and they say it is a “danger to society”.
The boy, who is still traumatised, is currently in the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital. According to his family, he is battling to use a walker and is currently undergoing physiotherapy and is expected to go for plastic surgery soon.
An eye witness explained yesterday that the boy was playing in front of his yard with two of his cousins. The dog apparently got out of the neighbour’s yard when the owner’s son went through the front gate.
Another witness described how the dog attacked the boy, sat on top of him, and also pulled and dragged him in the street.
The witnesses said that the dog only let go of its grip on the boy’s thigh after it was stabbed several times with a knife.
The boy’s grandmother said yesterday that she was alerted by one of the horrified cousins and told to go outside, where she found her helpless grandson “trapped under the dog”.
She described how she forgot her own safety and started choking the dog and tried to open its mouth with her bare hands.
“Many people came to the scene in a bid to assist. All we wanted was to loosen the dog’s grip to free my boy from the dog,” she said.
“My grandson is emotionally scarred and needs to go for counselling. He is so traumatised. No matter what we talk about, he ends up talking about the dog.”
A community member said that they are now afraid of passing in front of the house following the incident.
“I will never forget the boy’s desperate cry for help and we could see the unbearable pain he was in.
“We intervened regardless of the fact that our lives were threatened as we feared for the worst.”
He added that it was also traumatising because people were screaming and children were crying out in terror.
“Some people kicked and hit the dog with sticks but it would just not let go. Someone came with hot water and splashed it over the dog but it would still not let go of the boy’s thigh.
“The owner’s child tried to intervene by calling it and hitting it but nothing helped.
“The dog only let go of the boy after someone started stabbing it several times with a knife.”
Community members claimed that this was the second dog attack in the same street and they are now afraid.
They added that no one can move around freely and they fear for their children’s lives.
“That dog has to go because it has already tasted blood and cannot be trusted as a pet. The other thing is that it has stab wounds and can therefore even pose a danger to its owner. The owner has children of his own and it cannot be guaranteed that it won’t go for them.”
They pointed out that the owner also keeps another pit bull. The dog’s owner could not be reached for comment.
