Posted on 06/23/2009 11:38:59 AM PDT by Chet 99
Arisja Jacobs
Secunda A 4-year-old boy had parts of his scalp ripped off, his ear nearly torn off, and his left arm broken, when he was attacked by what is believed to be a pit bull terrier on Friday.
While the owners of the house where the attack took place apparently stood by and watched, Fanie van Rensburg, a neighbour of little Xander van Zyl, managed to save the child from its jaws.
Man, what a horrible thing. The dog was dragging the boy back and forth, picking him up and letting go over and over. Each time the little boy reached out for me to pick him up, the dog would take hold again, Van Rensburg said on Sunday.
Xanders mother, Cornel van Zyl, said the family had only been living in Secunda for four months.
Xander and his little sister, Shantelize, 2, were playing in our yard. I went to the bathroom and while I was there, Shantelize came to me in tears, saying her brother was being bitten by a dog.
Van Zyl suspects that Xander climbed through the palisade fencing around their house to join one of his friends across the road. The dog, which belongs to a family member of Xanders little friend, was kept in that yard.
Naked and covered in blood
I found Xander naked and covered in blood in the kitchen while the people were just standing there staring at him. I grabbed my child and screamed at them to bring a towel and phone the ambulance. I had to give them my cellphone since they didnt have any airtime.
The woman gave me a small blue towel which I wrapped around Xander. I held him tightly so he wouldnt lose more blood, said Van Zyl.
If it wasnt for that man (Van Rensburg), my child would be dead.
Van Rensburgs son Jan, a paramedic, took over from Van Zyl and started to clean Xanders wounds.
A friend of the Van Zyls, Bernadette Nortjé, also showed up and tried to comfort her hysterical friend and little Shantelize. She was crying and kept repeating that her brother was bleeding.
Nortjé accompanied Xander in the ambulance. I thought he was going to die there because he was so cold. His eyes rolled back and he was very drowsy, she said.
Xander was admitted to the Highveld Medi-Clinic in Trichardt. According to his father, Michael van Zyl, he will have surgery this week.
Dog to be put down
The dog will be put down by the SPCA on Monday. The brain must be sent to Onderstepoort for rabies tests, said Marilé Nieuwoudt of the SPCA. While the brown dog looks like a pit bull terrier, Nieuwoudt was not yet able to confirm the breed.
The Van Zyls are considering legal action against the dogs owners. They have no medical aid, and Xanders fathers employer paid for his hospital admission.
Beeld made several phone calls to the dogs owner, HF Koen, but received no answer. The people who live on the premises where the dog was kept were also not available for comment.
kid goes thru a fence to enter someone else’s yard.. ok, not to start anything, but was this possibly a trained watch dog guarding his home, or just a vicious brute?
Haha That boy ain’t right.
Keep up the good work Chet 99.
Your posting has made me much more aware of the issue.
there. fixed it.
cocker spaniel. :D
“there. fixed it.”
Not fixed, fudged.
...or possibly an american bull dog, or an english bulldog, or a toso inu, or a dogo argentino, or a presa canario, or a cane corso, or a patterdale terrier, etc. etc.
There are MANY breeds that have some resemblence the pit pull terrier that you hate so much.
Too bad. If she was charged with assault it must mean she lived.
but if he posted an article like this once a day, we'd say 'WOW this is a major problem!'
when in fact it happened only 365 times a year throughout the world.
Yes she lived - was apparently not injured too badly (and with a .357). But as usual with new stories it was impossible to find out what eventually happened.
http://www.dogbitelaw.com/breeds-causing-DBRFs.pdf
I can find a bunch more if you need them. What surprises the heck out of me is that these stats are not hard to find. People who don't want to deal with the truth simply won't do their homework to see the factual reality in this matter.
Pitt Bulls and Pitt Bull crosses make up over half of the dogs responsible for fatal dog attacks every year but are only 9% of the total dog population. They make up about 75% of total attacks where substantial damage is done and are still only 9% of the dog population of this country.
These numbers alone demonstrate the factual truth about this breed.
Good one!
“when in fact it happened only 365 times a year throughout the world.”
That may be true, but it would only take one time for my child. And if anything makes me more aware and makes me more precautions then I’m grateful for it.
i see a dog charging a kid in a threatening manner, i'm shooting.
For variety, here’s a story about a kid attacked by a “fisher cat”:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2277728/posts
if I saw a dog attacking a child and people were just standing around watching, not only would I kill the dog, but it would take an army to keep me from seriously harming those retards who could watch a child being hurt like that, damn my blood pressure rises fast even at the thought of that.
Lots of “do you ever” in your post. Do you believe in Freedom of Speech?
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