Dog in vicious attack ‘did not want to let go’
Vanier woman had ‘horrific gashes,’ says first aid teacher who helped
A woman who was mauled by a dog in Vanier remained in hospital Sunday, say neighbours who intervened in the vicious attack.
The 50-year-old woman, whose name had not been released, was mauled by the dog, believed to be a pit bull breed, around 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Neighbour Michael Holmes and his wife, Lindsay, rushed to the woman’s aid, fending off the dog with a large piece of wood while calling for help.
The woman was taken to hospital in critical condition, and neighbours said she suffered significant injuries and blood loss. Paramedics said she suffered “significant and extensive critical wounds throughout her torso and extremities.”
Bylaw officers seized the dog from the home at 256 Montfort St. Neighbours believe the dog was owned by the woman’s daughter, who lived downstairs.
Michael Holmes had just eaten lunch with his wife and their 1 ½-year-old son when they heard cries for help coming from the house behind theirs.
“We hopped the fence and found her in the balcony being severely mauled by this pit bull,” Holmes said. “She had significant blood loss and flesh loss, as well. It was doing a number on her.”
Using a piece of wood, Holmes said, he hit the dog multiple times on the head before it retreated into the house.
“He paused long enough for us to get (the woman) out of the doorway and let the door shut,” he said.
In the meantime, Lindsay was grabbing medical supplies to help the woman, who had lost chunks of flesh from an arm and a leg.
“I tried to grab anything clean I could put on the wounds because they were horrific gashes,” said Lindsay, who works as a first aid instructor.
“You could see down to the fatty tissue and the tendons on her arm,” she said. “When the paramedics came, they put tourniquets on her arm and leg, so she was bleeding quite a bit.”
Gisele Leroux, 59, lives in a unit above Holmes and Lindsay, and also jumped the fence into the neighbour’s yard to try to assist.
“If we weren’t home, the poor lady would have died; the dog did not want to let go,” she said.
Paramedics said that, because of the location of the incident, firefighters had to help extricate the victim, who was transported to The Ottawa Hospital trauma centre.
Holmes and Leroux agreed that if the animal had continued for another 10 minutes, the woman would probably have been killed.
“She was losing enough blood with just what she had,” said Holmes, adding that the woman had been calling for help for only about three minutes before they intervened. “In the time I went from (getting on) the balcony to hitting the dog, he’d bit chunks of her three or four times, right in front of me, while I was hitting.”
The mother likely went downstairs to feed the dog when she was attacked, Holmes said.
Holmes, who owns two dogs with his wife and son, said he’s very uncomfortable with pit bulls in the area and would like to see more restrictions placed on owners in light of the mauling.
“I’d like to see (Rideau-Vanier ward Coun.) Mathieu Fleury and bylaw (services) do something. There’s a lot of pit bulls in Vanier and there aren’t enough people who are educated about how they can be,” Holmes said.