The story developing this week of a young Japanese girl admitted to hospital after being mauled by four dogs in Murupara has gripped the nation's conscience.
Seven-year-old Sakurako Uehara was mauled on Monday by four Staffordshire bull terrier-cross dogs. Sakurako, who was meant to fly home with her parents to Japan on Wednesday, was playing on a family friend's property when she was attacked by the dogs belonging to the property owner.
The public's response to such a saddening incident has shades of our reaction to the Turangi 2011 sexual assault of a young girl visiting New Zealand with her parents. The assault on the young girl as she was sleeping in a caravan on December 21 left her family inundated with gifts, offers of support and more than $62,000 in donations. In both instances, the victims were young, innocent tourists who appear to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. While such attacks are utterly horrifying, it shows we as a nation are capable of a collective empathy and, more specifically, a collective shame.
Young Sakurako's parents and a leading plastic surgeon are expected to hold a media conference in Auckland today to discuss the reconstructive journey she will face in the days, weeks and years ahead.
Meanwhile, a fundraising appeal has been launched to support her family which last night had reached $65,000.
