A MAN attacked by a dog in Mossfiel Park hopes a Wyndham Council investigation will lead to its owner being prosecuted.
Hoppers Crossing resident Ian Price was walking his dog on October 8 when another man walked by without having his dog, believed to have been an American pitbull, on a lead.
“Our two dogs started sniffing each other and then just went hell for leather,” Mr Price said.
“We tried to restrain them but before I knew it, his dog has snapped at my hand.”
The bite left a deep, open gash on Mr Price’s left hand, tearing it from his knuckles to his wrist.
“I was in a great deal of pain. There really was a lot of blood everywhere, and at one stage it was squirting straight into the air.”
Four people intervened to try to restrain the dogs, Mr Price said, before he left the park, rushed home and called paramedics.
Mr Price spent the night at the Northern Hospital in Epping where he had surgery. After first identifying the dog as a Staffordshire bull terrier, Mr Price said council rangers and his doctor at Northern Health confirmed the bite marks and description matched that of an American pitbull terrier.
The council’s legislative services team is investigating and is asking for witnesses to help identify its owner.
Restricted-breed dogs, like American pitbulls, must be on a leash and muzzled when taken for walks.
There are 31 restricted-breed dogs registered in Wyndham. One attack involving a restricted breed dog has been reported to the council since September last year.
It is one year since the state government introduced tough new laws for dangerous dogs after four-year-old St Albans girl Ayen Chol was killed by an unregistered pitbull cross.
Mr Price said he’d had recurring nightmares about the attack.
Information to council on 9742 0777 or police on 9742 9444.
