UNITED KINGDOM -- A 10-year old girl was rushed to hospital last night after being attacked by a German Shepherd dog.
Abbie Martin, a pupil at St Finian’s School in Finglas, was walking with a pal and her friend’s mother when the attack took place.
Her father Paul raced to the scene after the attack and was with Abbie as she was brought by ambulance to Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
“I was walking Abbie home with my own daughter and we were on Deanstown Road in Finglas,” Abbie’s pal’s mum told the Herald. “We heard dogs barking and the next thing one shot out of a laneway.
The three of us just stopped in our tracks and then the dog lunged at Abbie.
“Abbie had a schoolbag on her back because she had been on her school tour, and the dog was trying to get the bag,” the distressed friend explained. “He jumped up on her and started biting her.
“We were all screaming and people ran from everywhere to try and help, but there’s not much you can do when there is a huge dog on a child’s back. “I felt so helpless.
Eventually the owner got the dog away, but Abbie’s back is all cut and the skin is broken,” she said as Abbie was being treated in hospital. “The [police] came and told us the dog had been put down, but the dog warden was going back up to the area to investigate two other dogs,” she said.
Abbie’s mother, Margaret raced to Temple Street on hearing her daughter had been admitted, and was at Abbie’s bedside as doctors assessed her injuries.
(Independent.ie - June 8, 2013)
