Man critical after Tregear dog attack
A man was given a blood transfusion and placed into an induced coma after a horrific dog attack in Sydney’s west which saw two canines maul three people including a child. WARNING: Graphic photos
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
A man is fighting for his life and a woman and child have been hospitalised after being mauled by two american staffordshire terriers at Tregear in Sydney’s west yesterday afternoon.
A 10-year-old girl was playing with one of the dogs at a Tregear home yesterday when it attacked her.
Her mother, 30, tried to protect her daughter and was also attacked.
The man aged in his 40s also tried to stop the attack before he too was set upon. At some point during the attack, the second dog joined in.
The man suffered a heart attack in addition to serious cuts caused by the dog bites.
Paramedics and a specialist CareFlight emergency team flown in by helicopter began resuscitation on the man and a blood transfusion at the scene.
He was placed in an induced coma and transported by ambulance to Westmead Hospital. He remained in a critical condition last night.
The 30-year-old woman with bites wounds to her forearm and her 10-year-old daughter with a bite wound to her back were both transported to hospital.
A police source told The Daily Telegraph the dogs simply “turned on them”.
The male victim had been staying at the home and the mum and daughter were visiting him. It is understood the dog’s owner arrived home after the attack. He locked the dogs in a room as emergency crews arrived.
A third dog at the home was not involved.
NSW Ambulance Inspector Phil Templeman says “a lot of clinical intervention” was required to stabilise the patients before they could be taken to hospital. “Everybody who was on scene, at such a horrific and distressing scene, should be commended for their efforts to try and bring these animals under control and essentially save (the) lives of these victims,” he said.
The council spokesman said the dogs were sedated then taken to a local veterinary clinic for examination. They’ll spend the night in the council’s animal holding facility.
From there, the registered owner can decide to have them euthanised before police and council engage in further discussions about their future. An RSPCA NSW spokeswoman said the animal welfare group was called in by police to help tranquillise the medium-sized dogs before the council removed them.
Witness Kelly Wisely, 40, was sitting on her friend’s front porch opposite the house where the attack was when she suddenly heard screaming and someone yelling “shut the door, shut the door”.
“We were sitting on the porch here, we just heard screaming, all we heard was ‘shut the door, shut the door’,” she said.
“Then everybody arrived, cops and ambulance.”
It is believed the dogs were eventually locked inside a room after the vicious attack before RSPCA crews took them away, leaving forensic police officers to sift through the house.
Paramedics treated the severely injured man and patched up his face with white bandages.
Resident Jackie Lee, 50, was at her home with young relatives when police told her to take the them away because the wounds on the man’s face were so severe and could traumatise the children.
“The 40-year-old guy was pretty messed up in the face, he’d been mauled by a dog,” she said.
“We were all standing out here, the kids were out here, and one of the detectives came over and asked ‘can you tell the children to go in the house because we’re going to bring him out soon’.”
— with AAP
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