Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Westie left bloodied in dog mauling near school
A PET owner has described the terrifying moment his dog was left with puncture wounds after an attack near a Dundee primary school.
Eric Mitchell rushed West Highland terrier Kai to the vets after he was mauled by two dogs near the North East Campus in Whitfield.
The 76-year-old said both he and his dog were left “shaken” by the attack on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Mitchell said a man was walking with a bulldog and a bull mastiff in the Longhaugh Road area before they pounced.
Whilst Kai is now recovering at home, he recalled the moment the bulldog had its mouth around his dog’s head.
He added: “Kai was yelping when this was going on, it was terrifying. The bulldog had bitten his ear and at one point Kai’s whole head was in its mouth.
“I feared something was going to happen when I saw the dogs on the Longhaugh Road.
“I crossed to go behind the school to hopefully avoid any issues but the bulldog came out of nowhere. The bigger bull mastiff-style dog was on a lead but the bulldog wasn’t.
“As the boy tried to intervene, the bull mastiff started attacking Kai. The whole thing went on for a few minutes.
“Given our proximity to school, I did start to think it could have easily have been a kid that was on the receiving end of this attack.
“The lad was in his 20s. He was lightweight and didn’t look able to handle one of the animals, let alone two.
“The bulldog was a similar size to Kai but he was built like a house and the bull mastiff was about the size of a labrador.
“Their owner did ask if Kai was okay but it was abundantly evident from his bloodied head that he wasn’t.”
Kai was rushed to Parkside Vets for treatment to some of the puncture wounds he suffered.
“He had to go under sedation so they could help clean him up. He was in there for over four hours. There is still some bruising,” Mr Mitchell said.
“I contacted the police and were told they ‘couldn’t do anything’ given it was a dog-on-dog attack. I contacted the dog warden on Monday and shared some of the injuries of Kai online.
“I didn’t get any details for the man in possession of the dogs and I think that will stop this going any further.
“If he reads this, I would tell him to walk one of these dogs at a time, at the very least put a muzzle on the pair of them in future.
“Kai is still a bit shaken by what happened and we’ve had to change the area we are walking around now.”
A spokesman for Dundee City Council, which is responsible for dog wardens, confirmed it was aware of the attack.
He added: “Our animal control section is investigating the case.”