UNITED KINGDOM -- A traumatised gran has told of her horror after she was bitten and her dogs mauled by Staffordshire bull terriers.
Sharon Black had taken her shih tzus Molly and Jessie out for a walk at 7am on Monday, when they were set upon by the two terriers, in Marlborough Street, South Shields.
As the 52-year-old tried to protect her pets, neighbours rallied round to help – hitting the dogs with pans.
Mum-of-four Mrs Black suffered cuts and bruising but 10–year–old Jessie needed emergency surgery for bite wounds and slashes to her groin.
Mrs Black, who works for the Star Centre in Hebburn, which provides equipment for the disabled and elderly, said: “It was horrific, I still can’t believe it now, when I close my eyes I just see Jessie in the mouth of one of those dogs.
“I’ve got minor cuts to my hand where I tried to prise open the terrier’s mouth, but my body is feeling battered where I was trying to protect my pets. I can’t believe anyone would want to keep animals like that.”
As Mrs Black walked her pets she spotted the two Staffordshire dogs.
The gran–of–one tried to kick them away before grabbing 18-month-old Molly and throwing her into a nearby garden to protect her.
She flung herself over Jessie, but by this time her dog was already being attacked.
Mrs Black, from Mortimer Road, South Shields, said: “I thought If I lay on top of her it would stop it from throwing her around like a rag doll, I tried to keep hold of her head because I didn’t want her ear to come off.
“A man opened his back gates and chucked a pan of water over us, but that did nothing, so he then got his hose out, but still nothing.
“A woman then came out with a pan and was whacking it, but it still didn’t want to let Jessie go.
Unbeknown to me an older man had put a stick into its mouth to prise its teeth open.”
A shaken Mrs Black was taken in by neighbours, before receiving a tetanus injection, antibiotics and treatment to her cuts at South Tyneside District Hospital in Harton Lane, South Shields.
Meanwhile the dogs were taken to Willows Vets in Chichester, South Shields, and yesterday afternoon, Jessie had surgery to stitch her wound.
The owner of the terriers has accepted responsibility for his pets, who are understood to have escaped from their yard as building work was carried out.
A spokesman from Northumbria Police added: “Following enquiries it appears the dogs had got out of a back yard while building work was underway. No complaints were made by either party who co-operated fully and the incident was settled as a civil matter.”
(Shields Gazette - August 10, 2011)
