Nevertheless, Mabarak Ali still had to undergo emergency surgery at the Georgetown Hospital for his severely damaged hands and other body parts, which he sustained while trying to ward off the animals.
Ali had left his home just after 05:00 hours, heading to the Ktty Masjid for his usual early morning prayers when the attack occurred.
The vicious canines were earlier engaged in a bitter battle with some other dogs in the area, having managed to escape from their owner’s yard, which is situated about six doors from Ali’s.
According to reports, Ali was just two yards from his home when the two pit bulls left their initial targets for the easier prey.
Ali saw them coming and tried to turn back to get to the safety of his yard, but it was too late.
The dogs quickly brought him to the ground and as he desperately tried to ward them off, they tore into the flesh of his hands and body. His screams were heard by a female neighbour who herself raised an alarm.
Kaieteur News was told that the neighbour grabbed a bucket of water, and assisted by two other persons, one with a piece of metal chain and the other with a piece of wood, they managed to chase the dogs away.
“If dat lady didn’t come out when de dog attack… She save he deh. She come out and holler,” a neighbour told this newspaper.
Ali’s wife, Khiroon, told this newspaper that the pit bulls had earlier killed two other dogs before attacking her husband.
“He was passing at the said time and he told me that he saw the dogs fighting, but he did not know that this would have happened. But you know, he go to turn back, but they attacked him,” Mrs. Ali explained.
She said that her husband told her that he tried several times to get up while the dogs were on him but he could not.
“I heard my husband screaming, bawling, and I rush out on the road and I saw the dogs, and I get in back the yard.”
The woman said that she later saw two boys chasing the dogs with a piece of wood and a chain.
She said that for a moment she thought that the dogs would attack her since they were chasing after a cat which was running towards her gate.
Eventually, several persons were aroused and her badly wounded husband was placed into a taxi and rushed to the Georgetown Hospital.
According to Mrs. Ali, while her husband sustained no broken bones, he lost a significant amount of blood. She said that the owner of the pit bulls has been cooperative, even promising to get rid of the vicious animals.
Four years ago, a pack of vicious dogs attacked and killed 53-year-old security guard Charles Roopchand on the Ogle Airstrip Road, East Coast Demerara. On that occasion the dogs had also attacked a female jogger, doing lesser damage.
After a lengthy trial, the owner of those dogs was acquitted of the charge laid against him.
(kaieteurnewsonline.com - February 21, 2012)
