'It was like a shark attack': Dad tells of horror moment he tore crazed dog off nine-year-old daughter

UNITED KINGDOM -- Johanna McQuillan is lucky to be alive after the Staffordshire bull terrier ­repeatedly sank its fangs into her arms, legs and back, the Daily Record reported.

Her dad John wrestled the beast off but it attacked her again and is still on the loose.

John, 74, said: “That dog wanted to kill and I thought she was a goner.

“It’s like Johanna was bitten by a shark.”

She suffered 17 separate wounds and needed two hours of surgery to repair tissue damage after the attack off Ayr’s Craigie Road near the racecourse.

Johanna McQuillan is lucky to be alive after being set
upon by a Staffordshire bull terrier as she
played with her three-year-old sister

 

Police are hunting for the animal.

Johanna, a primary five pupil at St Patrick’s Primary in Troon, was playing with her three-year-old sister Filia on Friday at 10am when the dog pounced.

Dad-of-five John clutched Filia in his arms as he tried to fend it off. He hauled it away but it prowled round them and attacked a second time before John bravely dragged it from the park.

The retired teacher told our sister paper the Ayrshire Post: “I’ve never seen anything like that before. It was wild and ferocious and wanted to kill. It is very important it is found and destroyed otherwise it will happen to someone else.

“Johanna was screaming and screaming as it bit her repeatedly on her arms, legs and back as she bravely tried to fight it off.

“I was kicking it over and over – I would have killed it if I could.”

John tried to fend off the crazed dog  

He managed to haul the dog to the park gate but it got away and came back for Johanna.

“That dog wanted to kill her. It wanted to finish her off. I was panic-stricken and I thought it was hopeless and she was going to die.

“The flesh was open and the fat was hanging down.”

John called an ambulance and as Johanna was rushed to Crosshouse Hospital, she screamed: “I can’t stand the pain.”

As her dad checked her wounds, she pleaded: “I don’t want to see it.”

The worst injury was to the girl’s left thigh, which left the flesh on her leg exposed.

John and wife Agnes, 41, a former nurse, are helping Johanna get over her ordeal.

Johanna said: “The pain is not too bad and I was terrified.

“I am just glad it’s all over – and my dad is my hero.”

Police removed items of clothing and took DNA samples in the hope of tracing the dog but it has not been seen. They said: “It is a priority to trace the dog which is believed to be a grey Staffordshire bull terrier.

“It is vital we find both the dog and its owner.”

(Mirror UK - April 24, 2014)