Boy nearly loses ear in attack by dog

A 6-year-old Northland boy's ear was ripped and left hanging from his head when he was attacked by a dog that is still living in his street.

Charlie Parkin was walking down Valley Rd in Hikurangi, where his family live, when the dog attacked him a fortnight ago. He needed 21 stitches.

"It bit through the top of his ear and ripped it back off his head. It nearly took his ear off," said his mother, Tracey Parkin.

"It was gory. It's still fairly tender and sore."

It was the second time Charlie had been bitten by a dog in the same year and on the same street, but by different dogs.

The other attack left bite marks on his chest, Mrs Parkin said.

And he isn't the only child in the Parkin family who has been attacked by a dog on Valley Rd in recent months.

Charlie's 13-year-old sister Louisa was delivering papers on her bike in November when another dog, which was on a leash and walking with its owner, jumped at her and bit her on the thigh.

That dog was destroyed under court orders and its owner fined $800.

The Parkin family own three tough-looking dogs themselves but they have "never laid a tooth on anyone", Mrs Parkin said.

Though the dog that attacked Louisa had been put down, the other two that attacked Charlie remained in their street, she said.

Mrs Parkin is upset that her son was put through the experience of trying to identify his attacker after the latest attack.

"They got him to walk down the pathway [at the Whangarei pound] with all the dogs yapping and he was very scared. He couldn't identify the dog. It was too much for him."

The dog was subsequently returned to its owner, she said.

Senior Constable Russell Rawiri said he knew of four dog attacks in Hikurangi in the last year.

He urged residents to secure their dogs in their property "so they don't attack kids when they are walking past".

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE