Husky mauls little Bichon Frise puppy to death in front of her shocked owner

UNITED KINGDOM -- A distraught dog owner has described how her new puppy was fatally mauled during a walk.

Mother-of-two Claire Stepsys, 32, watched in horror as an unmuzzled Husky attacked her four-month-old bichon frise, Milly, near her front door in Burnage.

The Husky, on a lead, was being walked by a relative of the owner when it suddenly attacked.

“I’d literally only walked ten steps up the road. I didn’t see any danger. This dog came out of nowhere and attacked mine from behind and shook her around like a little rag doll,” said Claire.

“Milly was in the dog’s jaws and she was just being ragged around. I tried to pull it away but it was a very powerful, big dog. I got bitten as well,” she added.

She took her pet to the vet but the injuries were so severe Milly was put down the following day.

Claire said her two children, Aaron, 11, and Callum, eight, were in shock when they came home from school.



RIP Milly

“They were heart-broken,” she said, adding: “It was shocking. We have lost our pet because of a powerful dog that’s being walked around without a muzzle. It as just an accident waiting to happen, whether it was my dog or another. It could have happened to a child.”

The owner of the Husky was co-operative and has offered to pay vet bills but Claire criticised both the police and the RSPCA who she claimed refused to investigate as ‘the dog was on a lead and so no crime has been committed’.

“I’ve never felt so heart-broken about anything in my life,” she said.

Milly had suffered a number of puncture wounds and damage to her pancreas in the attack on Errwood Road.

The puppy was a Christmas gift from Claire’s partner Simon Fowler, 32, who said: “Because the other dog was on a lead and wasn’t being encouraged to attack, we were told there’s no criminal case.”

He added: “It’s obviously an unpredictable animal and the owner couldn’t control it. I find it a bit of an injustice that nothing is going to be done about it. It’s not about compensation. I don’t want the other dog to be put down. What I want is people to learn from this.”

A statement from the RSPCA said: “The RSPCA is very sad to hear about the death of this poor dog, and our condolences are with the owner. It must have been an extremely upsetting experience. The enforcement of the Dangerous Dogs Act is the responsibility of the police. Any further questions about investigations into this incident need to be referred to them.”

A spokesman for GMP could find no record of the 101 call.

However, as the animal which attacked Milly did not appear to be one of the four breeds banned in the UK, police would have to prove it was ‘dangerously out of control’ for a prosecution under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

(Manchester Evening News - ‎Jan 31, 2015‎)