UNITED KINGDOM -- A dog owner was attacked by a “ferocious pit bull type” dog as he fought to wrestle his King Charles Cavalier Spaniel from the animal’s jaws, a court heard.
Stephen Taylor, who ended up unconscious, suffered serious injuries to his hand, had to undergo a three-hour operation, spent four days in the Royal Preston Hospital and was off work for a month after the escaped dog sank its teeth into him and refused to let go.
As Mr Taylor tried to free his dog, the other animal got his hand in its mouth. The victim tried to open the dog’s jaws and shouted for help. A [neighbor] put a stool over the dog’s back to try and pin it to the floor. Police arrived and tasered the dog. The first time had no effect at all and on the second, the dog relaxed its grip on Mr Taylor and he was dragged away, momentarily losing consciousness.
Officers had to asphyxiate the dog at the scene to get control, as it was so ferocious.
The pit bull’s owner, Rein Preem was said to have been unaware it had been let out of his property by a friend - [however, he had admitted that he had known that the dog had figured out how to get out of the gated yard on its own and had done nothing to correct this problem]. Preem admitted owning a dog and allowing it to be dangerously out of control on Berkeley Close, with injury being caused, on May 19th
Preem, 56, who has been on disability for the last 30 years, was given an eight-week curfew between 9 pm and 8 am and must pay £500 compensation. They did not ban him from owning any other dogs during this time.
Preem's attorney said, “He loved this dog and had no inkling that at any point in the future it could attack anybody. He is a responsible dog owner. He had never had any incidents with the dog in the past. He says it was a genuine mistake. He has apologised profusely. This was an unforeseen incident that occurred through the actions of a third party.”
(Pendle Today- July 26, 2012)
