Dog bite cases carry different messages, says SPCA

Two further cases this week of children being badly bitten in the face carried separate messages about dogs and safety, SPCA Auckland chief executive Bob Kerridge said today.

On Monday, a five-year-old girl was attacked as she went to pat a german shepherd-labrador cross that was on a leash with its owner outside a supermarket in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn.

She needed surgery to repair her nostril and reattach a piece of skin left hanging from a cheek.

Across town on Thursday, a 10-year-old boy running along the street near his Glen Innes home was chased and bitten by a pitbull terrier.

The boy, Montel Milani, had 17 stitches inserted for a 2.5cm-wide hole by his lip.

Mr Kerridge said the incidents were different and provided different lessons.

The first reinforced the advice that people should exercise caution when approaching unknown dogs, even if they were tied up.

The second was a case of an irresponsible owner. The dog concerned wasn't registered, it wasn't in a fenced area, and it wasn't muzzled in a public place or on a lead despite being of a designated dangerous breed.

Last August, the Auckland City Council said reports of dog bites in its area had fallen 48 per cent in the year to July compared with the previous 12 months.

The council adopted a tough stance on dog control in the wake of the high-profile attack on schoolgirl Carolina Anderson in January 2003.

Mr Kerridge said the drop in reported attacks was inevitable given the council's stringent approach.

But he also believed awareness of issues about dog control and safety was increasing among the general public.

"Unfortunately, there are going to be incidents," he said today.

"We are not going to stop it altogether. It can be reduced further by proper education of children and by owners' compliance with the law."

- NZPA