Australia: Girl, 5, mauled by pit bull at Carrum Downs: ‘It’s horrific ... she was in so much pain’

AUSTRALIA -- THE mother of a five-year-old girl horrifically mauled to the face by a pit bull has slammed authorities, saying they only helped her when the story went public. 
 
Monique Douglas demanded to know whether the dog that savagely attacked her daughter Alexis last Friday had been put down.

But the mother of four said she heard nothing from police or the council until sharing her story on 3AW.

  

 

 

“It’s horrific what this dog has done to such a tiny little five-year-old,” Mrs Douglas said. “It just breaks my heart to think she was in so much pain.”

Alexis was playing at her older sister’s friend’s house in Carrum Downs when a neighbour’s dog launched on the little girl.

She now faces her first day of Prep on Friday with bandages covering the left-hand-side of her face.

Mrs Douglas said despite contacting Frankston City Council and the police, she had no confirmation that the dog had been destroyed until hours after she went on the radio program this morning.

“I was crying out for police help, for council help, but no-one helped me until I called Neil Mitchell,” she said.

“Now my phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”

Mrs Douglas said police offered counselling to her eldest daughter Madieline, 16, who had been with Alexis when the attack occurred.

“She is quite distraught about the whole thing and feels she ruined her sister’s life,” Mrs Douglas said.

Frankston City Council chief executive Dennis Hovenden said staff “were still trying to ascertain the procedure” after Mrs Douglas alerted council to the attack on Saturday morning.

He said staff had confirmed with the dog owner today that the pit bull had been euthanased by a vet, and that it had been unregistered.

“Council strongly advocates responsible dog ownership,” he said. “There is little tolerance where dogs are not responsibly managed by their owners.”

Meanwhile, young Alexis faces regular appointments with a plastic surgeon.

“There will be permanent scarring,” Mrs Douglas said.

“But I will do everything — I don’t care if I have to remortgage my house — to get it fixed.”

(Herald Sun - Jan 27, 2015)