Australia: Man attacked, his Pomeranian mauled to death by two Bull Arab mix dogs

AUSTRALIA -- A man was attacked and his Pomeranian mix was attacked and killed during a savage dog attack at Bluewater Park.

A doctor told Michael Geier, 35, his injury was within just a centimetre of being potentially life-threatening after he was attacked on Forestry Rd on Friday.

Mr Geier said he was walking his pet dogs Turbo and Ramy about 11.30am when he saw two bull arab cross dogs jump over a fence.

He said 17-month-old Ramy started running and the dogs “went straight for her, like wolves”.

“I’ve run straight for Ramy. I got about five or 10m to her and that’s when the first one latched her straight on the throat,” he said. “By the time I got to her the other one had her (body).”

Mr Geier said he hit the attacking dogs, trying to get them to release Ramy.

He eventually got Ramy back in his arms but one of the bull arabs jumped and bit him on the neck while he was crouching down. “I remember hitting it. I tried to grab it. Then I’ve gotten up and there’s just blood streaming down my neck,” he said.

Mr Geier was left with stitches, scratches and bruises over his body. But his mother Johanna Fiener said if the bite had been 1cm over, the injury would have been life-threatening.

“I believe my son was really lucky, he got a hole in his neck and the doctor said if it was any closer he could have bled to death,” she said.

Neighbours called paramedics, who treated Mr Geier, and contacted Townsville City Council.

Community Health and Environment Committee chair councillor Ann Maree Greaney said two unregistered bull arab cross dogs had been impounded “to ensure they posed no further threat to the community”.

“This was a particularly savage attack that has caused serious injury and distress to the victim, and the council will be responding in the strongest possible way,” Cr Greaney said.

“For a person to be attacked while just out walking their dog in a public area is totally unacceptable.

“The impounded dogs will be kept locked up at the pound pending the outcome of council’s inquiries.”

The council’s investigating officers have visited Mr Geier and begun taking statements. The owner of the impounded dogs has made contact with the council and is co-operating with the investigation.

The family is distraught following Ramy’s death and Mr Geier is left shaken.

“It’s not like just a dog for us, it’s our family member. Ramy was a dog who just made everyone happy,” Ms Fiener said.
  
“She was a happy dog, she brought a smile on anyone’s face. We’re devastated.”

(Townsville Bulletin - June 19, 2017)

Australia: Five-year-old girl's face mauled by dog in Pendle Hill

AUSTRALIA -- A five-year-old girl has had part of her nose bitten off by a dog in Sydney's west on Thursday night.

The girl was mauled by the dog, believed to be a bull arab - great dane cross, in the front yard of a home on Bombala Street in Pendle Hill.

Emergency services were called about 7.30pm, where they found the girl with facial injuries, including a significant injury to her nose.

 

Most of the girl's nose was ripped off during the attack.

She was taken to The Children's Hospital at Westmead with several cuts to her face, a police spokeswoman said.

Her injuries were non-life threatening, the spokeswoman said.

The dog was brought to the home by someone known to the girl's family, according to police.

 

The dog has been secured and an investigation into the incident is now under way.

Police are liaising with Holroyd Council regarding what to do with the dog.

(Sydney Morning Herald - Feb 5, 2016)

Two dogs responsible for savage attack on Sunshine Coast jogger ‘looking for artery’

AUSTRALIA -- Dog owner Christopher Mark Ryder was today dealt a severe $13,000 fine for the frenzied mauling in bushland on May 23 which left the victim with broken bones and injuries all over his body.

It is only the second time a Queensland council has successfully prosecuted a pet owner on the higher charge of grievous bodily harm, following a similar case in Caloundra less than a month ago.

The Nambour Magistrates Court today heard jogger Timo Fuchs, 33, thought his life was over as he battled to protect his vital arteries from Boxer Mastiff Bruno and Bull Arab Charlie.

Mr Fuchs had been running along Rainforest Rd, in rural residential Chevallum, when the barking males charged out of an unsecured property rented by Mr Ryder.

 

One of them bit Mr Fuch’s leg. Unable to turn back because the dogs were blocking his exit, Mr Fuchs frantically scrambled to a tree which he hoped to climb to save his life.

But as he stumbled for 67m through long grass and thick scrub, Mr Fuchs fell down an embankment, breaking his leg.

As he lay on the ground, both animals continued to strike at his head and throat while he kicked and screamed for help.

His cries were heard by a neighbour who fended off Charlie with a stick. However Bruno remained and made another attempt at Mr Fuchs.

The court heard Mr Ryder, a 31-year-old pool builder, chained the two dogs at night but that they roamed freely during the day on the property which had no gate and was not fully fenced.

He had raised Charlie from a pup but inherited Bruno from a friend who had asked him to babysit the animal when he went on holiday.

Lawyer Rowena Ferrall said Mr Ryder was sincerely apologetic and had agreed immediately for his pets to be destroyed.

He even refused an opportunity to say his last goodbye to the animals, stating he could not bear to look at them after what they had done.

Ms Ferrall said the animals had no history of violence and if Mr Ryder had known he would not have kept them as his partner was about to give birth to their first baby at that time.

Ms Ferrall argued against a fine of $15,000 to $20,000 being sought by the council, saying her client’s case was not as severe as that of retiree Janet Walker who was fined $15,000 in Caloundra Magistrates Court last month.

In that case, Mrs Walker’s dog was a declared dangerous animals which should have been muzzled at the time it bit an elderly man on the leg.

Magistrate Cliff Taylor ordered Mr Ryder pay more than $16,000 in total after also fining him for not securing and registering his dogs.

In an interview with The Courier-Mail Mr Fuchs said seven months after the attack he still could not run and was only just returning to work.

He described the terrifying experience in which he had thought to himself: “This isn’t going to end well”.

Today he said he welcomed the court result, saying he hoped it would send a message to dog owners to act responsibly.

Mr Fuchs said the terrifying experience had made him more respectful of canines and he was certainly more cautious when in public.

“For me the court result doesn’t have any bearing on my life because it didn’t stop the incident but I just hope from today onwards that more people pay attention and look after their dogs and that having a large dog, or even a small dog, that it could potentially bite someone.”

“Your body goes into fight or flight autopilot mode and you try to save your life,” he said.

“I thought I was going to die. I kept trying to get back up. It was very frightening and surreal.”

He said he suffered a broken knee and broke his leg in two places as he was trying to escape, received numerous bites and scratches and needed a skin graft.

“My neighbour saved my life. If it wasn’t for him I’d be in a wheelchair or dead.”

Sunshine Coast councillor Jenny McKay said it was a “great day” for the council which was on a mission to prosecute irresponsible dog owners and protect the community.

“We are prosecuting to the highest level possible and it’s good to see the courts are taking this seriously to ensure we can keep our community safe.”

(Courier Mail - Dec 4, 2014)

K9 attacked by dogs, police open fire

Rumble the police dog, with the
injuries he sustained in the attack.

AUSTRALIA -- Police officers were overnight forced to shoot at two large dogs, killing one, after the animals set upon one of their own dogs from the K9 division.

Inspector Neil Blair said police had been called to a disturbance on Wanaping Road in Kenwick last night when the two dogs, a male pitbull boxer and a female pure bull arab, rushed at the German shepherd from a backyard of the house police were visiting.

[I had never heard of a "bull arab" before. Wikipedia says they're an Australian dog breed used to hunt pigs. They're basically a mix of bull terrier, greyhound, and pointer with some saying that pit bull and mastiff blood have been introduced into the mix. A search for "bull arab" and "pig" yields some pretty horrific photos of them attacking pigs. But it lets you get a visual of what this police K9 dog was subjected to.]

"Two officers, who were with a dog handler at the time, discharged one round each as a result one dog died and the other sustained a bullet wound," Inspector Blair said.

The pit bull / boxer by the name of Tiger is said to have latched onto the throat of the police dog, going by the name of Rumble, while he was being held on the leash by his handler.

The female dog, whose name was Zena, was biting at the police dog's back legs when the constables shot at the attacking animals, Acting Assistant Commissioner Tony Flack said.

One shot is understood to have gone through the pit bull's head, killing it instantly, while the other shot went right through the female dog's body.

Mr Flack said police had been called twice to the property that night by the female resident who was complaining about a large number of people behaving badly in the street.

On the first occasion the gate to the backyard had been closed but when they returned at 11pm the gate was opened and the dogs were loose, Mr Flack said.

"It is not known if the dogs were set [loose] on purpose," he said.

He said people at the scene were not helpful and an internal investigation would examine whether there had been any threats towards the police dog in the lead up to the attack.

He said that no one was hurt from any bullet ricochet. However some neighbours were reportedly upset because there were children in the immediate area of where the shots were fired.

How and why the police dog was deployed would form part of the investigation since police had a duty of care for their animal, Mr Flack said.

Rumble was undergoing further surgery at the Murdoch Veterinary Hospital to clean his wounds, while Zena was recovering from emergency surgery.

"Both dogs are expected to make full recoveries", he said

(WA Today - July 20, 2011)