Attack victim makes plea to mastiff owner

Warren James spent three days in hospital after being attacked by a dog. Picture / Daily Post

A man attacked by a bull mastiff cross wants its owner to come forward before the dog inflicts worse injuries on someone else.

Warren James, of Rotorua, was in hospital for three days after the attack.

He was walking to a central city service station when the dog, which he believes is a bull mastiff cross, lunged at him from behind a hedge near the corner of Pererika and Phillip Sts about 9.30pm last Thursday.

"It was like it was going for my throat.

"I put up my arm to shield myself and it just latched on to it.

"I kneed it in the chest and it let go for a second, but then it bit me on the arm again.

"It really took a couple of bites out of me.

"I managed to give it a kick in the head and it ran off, but it has left me with a big wound that is going to take a while to heal."

Mr James said the attack had shaken his trust in animals, and he was concerned for others living in the area, including his 7-year-old daughter, who often stays in the area with her mother.

Rotorua District Council senior animal control officer Kevin Coutts said that under the new Dog Control Act regulations, he had to refer the attack on Mr James to police because it had caused serious injury.

If found and convicted, the dog's owner could be fined up to $20,000 or jailed for up to three years.

The attack was the latest of several in Rotorua.

Last months, one of two dogs being exercised by a couple in Boord Park was savaged by a pitbull dog being walked by a teenage boy.

The same month an elderly man was attacked by a pitbull cross while walking a dog in Rotorua's eastern suburbs, and in Western Heights another dog rushed and mauled a dog on a leash.

All three dogs were found and destroyed.

Early this month an elderly woman urged dog owners to act more responsibly after her arm was broken when she was struck by a dog while walking across a reserve.

- NZPA