Melbourne dog attack: parents allegedly at gym as child bitten

A Melbourne council is investigating after a 10-year-old girl was attacked by her family’s dog, allegedly while her parents were at the gym.

The dog which attacked a 10-year-old girl at a property in Berwick in Melbourne’s southeast, is believed to be a Russian bull mastiff.

A Melbourne council is investigating after a 10-year old girl was viciously attacked by her family’s dog, allegedly while her parents were at the gym.

Neighbours rushed to help the girl and her 7-year old sister after hearing terrified screams from the Berwick property, in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs, shortly after 8 o’clock last night.

One neighbour ‘Jimmy’, told 3AW he had crawled through a partially open garage door to try and rescue the girl who was trapped in the backyard with the dog, reported to be a Russian bull mastiff.

“This dog was just going berserk,” Jimmy said, describing the dog’s “massive frothing head” coming through a door when he and other neighbours tried to open it to reach the girl.

“By the time we got her out, she had been badly mauled.”

The 10-year old received injuries “everywhere” from her ears to her legs, but is now recovering in a stable condition in the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Her younger sister was physically unharmed, but described seeing her sibling thrown around the backyard “like a rag doll”, Jimmy said.

Jimmy said a neighbour drove around the area with the younger girl, looking for her parents in vain.

“They had apparently gone to the gym and left the girls by themselves with the dogs,” he said.

The parents arrived home an hour later, after paramedics had taken their daughter to hospital.

“I’m just glad we were home,” Jimmy said. “It obviously wasn’t going to stop.”

The local council attended the property and seized the dog.

A Victoria Police spokesman said the investigation currently lay with Casey Council, though there are criminal penalties for parents and guardians who leave children alone for unreasonable periods without making arrangements for their supervision and care.

The attack came a day after one-year old Kamillah Jones died from her injuries after being attack by a dog while being pushed in her stroller along a street in Inverell, in northwest NSW.