Gympie dog attack leaves boy with serious injuries

Covered in blood and cradled by his mother following a near-fatal dog mauling, an eight-year-old boy asked if he was going to die. The family’s neighbour has recounted the horrifying details.

First she heard the screams.

Then the voice of her “little mate” across the road as he sobbed to his mother ‘am I going to die?’.

Edith Mannion recounted to the Gympie Times the terrifying moment her eight-year-old neighbour was mauled by a dog on Tuesday night.

The attack, which left the boy with serious injuries to his neck, just missed a vital vein.

Mrs Mannion, a resident in Gympie’s Southside, said she was watching TV with her husband inside her Furness Rd home when heard screaming from across the road.

The eight-year-old was described as "a gorgeous little boy" by his elderly neighbour after he was almost mauled to death.

She ran to across the road, where she said she saw the boy, covered in blood and being cradled by his mother on the cement.

“She was rocking him and holding him saying ‘my baby’,” Mrs Mannion said.

“He looked up at her and said ‘Mummy, am I going to die?’”

According to Mrs Mannion, another neighbour’s dog, a Bull Mastiff named Boris, had latched onto the boy when he approached the side door of his owner’s garage.

The boy was attacked by a Bull Arab when visiting this house on Tuesday night. Photo: Ella Doyle.

His jugular, a vital vein in the neck, was millimetres from being pierced, and the boy was “two minutes from dying”, she said.

In a flash, ambulances carrying Critical Care paramedics arrived and the boy was taken away with serious injuries to his face and neck.

Mrs Mannion was so distraught by what she saw, she said she barely slept that night.

The eight-year-old boy lived next-door to the house where he was nearly mauled to death. Photo: Ella Doyle.

She described the boy as “her little mate”, who was a “nice, well mannered little fellow”.

“He’s a lovely little boy, a gorgeous little boy,” she said.

“He’s always happy.”

It’s understood Boris did not have a history of aggressive behaviour but Mrs Mannion said she thought pent-up energy may have contributed to the violent outburst as he lived in a small yard.

The Gympie council has since confirmed Boris was put down on Wednesday.

The boy was taken to Gympie hospital before being transferred to the Queensland Children’s Hospital on Wednesday morning.

A QCH spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday afternoon he was in a stable condition.

A Gympie regional council spokesperson said Boris was destroyed on Wednesday.

Originally published as Gympie dog attack leaves boy with serious injuries