6:10am Friday 12th March 2010
By Jeremy Grimaldi
YORKSHIRE Terrier Harry bears the horrifying evidence of what can happen when dangerous dogs are let loose – he had to have his leg amputated.
He was subjected to a savage attack after a bull terrier charged down a Penhill street before latching on to the 9kg dog.
The attack, which lasted about five minutes, was only halted after a passer-by grabbed a two-foot piece of wood and smashed the out-of-control bull terrier over the head.
Shane Jones, son-in-law of Harry’s owner, described the attack as “maniacal”.
The Penhill resident said: “He and Harry were just walking along and minding their own business at about 11.30am when this brown bull terrier came barrelling down Inglesham Road and latched onto Harry’s leg.
“Although the dog was being kicked repeatedly by my father-in-law he would not let go, he kept his jaw clenched and continued to ravage Harry like a rag doll for about five minutes.
“He was snarling, growling and was acting ferociously. We were just lucky that a bystander chose to fetch that piece of wood.
“When it was all over a woman and two males between the age of 20 and 30 showed up and took the dog away. We are still not sure if they apologised because my dad was in too much shock.
“The vet said there is a good chance Harry will survive, but he is not out of the woods yet.”
Shane added that although the family had been traumatised by the incident last Tuesday, they had been left equally disappointed by the authorities’ response.
He added: “We have called the police and the council’s dog warden, but those calls have been left unreturned. We certainly have not been visited even though the police promised to send a bobby around.
“The dog is still out there - who would be to blame should it attack a child next?
“We are pretty sure we know the street these people live on and neighbours say that, although they don’t know exactly where it lives, it has committed similar attacks before.”
The veterinarian who is helping Harry agreed, saying the Yorkshire Terrier was lucky to be alive.
“This dog sounds like it is a ticking time-bomb,” said Graeme Pack, from Purton Veterinary Group. “If this dog had attacked a child there would be a town-wide search for it, but because it is an animal the police don’t even show up?
“I understand that they may not have the resources to deal with this sort of thing, but they should realise the next victim could easily be a human.
“I would say this dog needs to be found and studied by a behavioural expert to discover what has gone wrong in its socialisation.”
He added: “The bill for the amputation is already £500 over their insurance policy for our attempts to save Harry’s leg and for its amputation. Their policy covers £2,500 of treatment.
“More work may have to be done if Harry’s fever and an infection don’t get better soon but hopefully he’ll pull through.”
Sergeant David Flynn of Swindon police said: “This was obviously a distressing incident and officers will be visiting the dog owners to establish the full details.
“At this stage it would not be appropriate to comment any further and we will liaise directly with the owners.”
The dog is described as dark brown in colour, with long legs (for the breed), wearing a studded collar. Anyone with information should ring police on 0845 4087000.
A spokesman for Swindon Council said: “We’ve no record of any call about this incident coming through our call centre but it’s possible that someone has spoken to the owner directly. We can’t confirm this at the moment but we will look into it further.”
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