Little girl's torn face horrifies surgeon

By CATHERINE MASTERS

A little girl underwent 12 hours of surgery at the weekend after a dog attacked her in an Auckland park and chewed half her face off.

Kidz First children's hospital surgeon Janek Januszkiewicz said last night that it was the worst dog attack injury he had seen.

The 7-year-old would never be the same again. A huge amount of tissue had been stripped away from her scalp and face, he said.

"Virtually half of the forehead, cheek and flesh around the [right] eye stripped away right down to bone, deeply into the orbital cavity.

"It must have been horrific for her father and mother to have to deal with the sight of their daughter with those injuries, because even nurses and operating staff who are hardened to these sorts of things found it quite gruesome and obviously very saddening."

Her case was one of several dog bites which came in over the weekend and around eight or nine in the past couple of weeks.

The girl had been playing about 9.30pm at Cox's Bay Reserve in Westmere after a family barbecue when the dog attacked.

At first the girl's friends thought the big brown dog was licking their friend's face.

But then they heard her crying.

When her father raced to her rescue, it plunged its teeth into his leg and had to be wrenched off him by friends.

Her father took her in the car for medical treatment but later had to return to look for pieces of her face.

Sergeant Nicole Topfer said, "We've got a dog roaming the streets who appears out of control ... This attack is as bad as any hit-and-run incident or any unprovoked attack on an innocent child with a lethal weapon."

The man who claimed the dog gave false details to family friends. Ms Topfer asked him to "do the right thing" and come forward.

She said the man was "almost skinny", Caucasian, about 45 years old, 170cm, with a mullet haircut and wearing a checked shirt and possibly long trousers.

The dog is described as a cross-breed, of light-brown bull mastiff colouring but with the shape and big head of a rottweiler.

The owner of a dog that attacks people or animals may be fined up to $1500.

If the dog causes serious injury, it may be destroyed and the owner fined $5000 or jailed for three months.

* Police ask for anyone with information to call 027 290-1599.