WOMAN MAULED
VICIOUS DOG ATTACK ON ELDERLY PEDESTRIAN
A POOL of blood was left on a friendly neighbourhood pathway after an elderly woman was attacked by a large dog while walking down Erica Close in East Dubbo on Tuesday morning.
Two brothers, who scooter to primary school in the same lane each morning, by chance were running late and came upon the attack. They quickly returned home to raise the alarm with their mother who immediately drove to the scene to find the dog owners had re-yarded the dog and had been assisting the woman.
Multiple sources have told Dubbo Photo News that the dog, which has now been humanely euthanised, belonged to a former Dubbo Regional Council senior ranger.
While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, in shock with a towel wrapped around her lower leg, the woman told bystanders: “A lady picked up my skin off the footpath.”
Ambulance NSW confirmed one crew attended the incident after being called just before 8.30am.
“This morning we got reports of a woman possibly in her 70s, we treated her for a large laceration to her leg,” a spokesperson told Dubbo Photo News on Tuesday.
“She was transported to Dubbo Base Hospital in a stable condition.”
Meanwhile, Dubbo Regional Council also confirmed they were investigating the attack.
“The dog’s owner called Council to report the incident and has informed Council staff that the dog was humanely euthanised this morning,” Stephen Wallace, DRC Director Development & Environment, said.
“DRC staff confirmed this occurred.
“Like all dog attacks, this incident will be thoroughly investigated by DRC’S Environmental Compliance Team, and appropriate action will be taken.”
When pressed on whether the dog’s owner was a former Council ranger, DRC refused to answer stating no further information would be disclosed while the investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, neighbours of the dog claim they are not surprised by the attack, describing the dog in question and another dog which lives at the same address, as being “very aggressive”, “noisy” and “dangerous”.
One resident who lives nearby said he and others had made several complaints about the troublesome dogs to Council in the past.
“One day I was trimming the lawn and he (the dog) came tearing down and nearly came over the fence at me,” a neighbour, who requested to remain anonymous, said.
“One little bit of noise and the dogs would just go berserk, you couldn’t hear yourself think when they went off, you had to tippy toe around the place.
“My neighbour called council several times and they could hear the dogs barking in the background, but we would just be sent a form from the chief ranger to fill out to say when they were barking, how long they were barking and this and that, and it went nowhere, so we just got sick of it.”
However, DRC denied receiving any such complaints.
“Council has not received any dangerous or menacing dog complaints about the dog in question, and this appears to be an isolated incident,” Mr Wallace said.
Another neighbour claimed the street is home to families with young children who frequently ride their bicycles in the quiet culde-sac at weekends.