Five-year-old boy mauled by dog on the Gold Coast

AUSTRALIA -- FIVE-YEAR-OLD Kellen Cormie was meant to be celebrating his birthday with his twin brother Jake yesterday but instead was in hospital having his left ear reattached after a dog knocked him over and mauled him. 
 
Four hours of surgery at Gold Coast Hospital left Kellen groggy but it was the shock of Saturday’s attack which had him in tears.

His mum Kay was about to drive the twins to pick up their birthday cake but Kellen first wanted to thank his neighbour for mowing the lawn.

As soon as he opened their front door, the dog, believed to be a staffordshire bull terrier, jumped on the boy and started biting his face.

“I saw everything, it was horrible,” Kay said emotionally. I felt so hopeless, there was nothing I could do.

“The dog was just trying to get him. It felt like nearly three hours but it was seconds.”

The next-door neighbour rushed to separate the dog and the boy but it was too late. Half of Kellen’s ear was on the ground and he had several bite wounds on his shoulder and torso.

The family rushed him to hospital where they waited four hours before he could have surgery. They now face a three-week wait before they’ll know whether the operation was a success.

Kellen’s dad, Scott, said the twins had been warned about dogs before.

“We don’t take the boys to the park because a lot of people don’t have their dogs on the leash and some are not safe,” he said.

“We have a ridgeback cross cattle dog at home so they’re used to dogs and they’re not scared of them. But we told them to stay away from the neighbour’s dog.”

Scott and Kay said they would like to see more awareness raised in the community about dangerous dogs.

“We’d like to put out the message to dog owners that if they own these dogs, they need to second guess what they’re doing,” Scott said.

“It can cost lives ... I just don’t want anyone else to go through something like that again.”

Kellen is now recovering in hospital and the whole family will go through trauma counselling.

“I could not sleep last night, I kept picturing everything,” Kay said.

“Kellen knows what has happened but he isn’t aware that half of his ear is gone. He had a look in the mirror with the bandage but I don’t think he fully understands.”

Kay and Scott reported the incident to police and council.

News Corp contacted the dog’s owners yesterday but they declined to comment.

(Courier Mail - Mar 1, 2015)