Police warn against teasing dogs after drunk man bitten

Photo / Thinkstock

Police have warned people not to antagonise dogs after a drunken man was bitten in the face by a dog he was teasing in the central North Island township of National Park.

The man suffered serious wounds to his face around his mouth last night after the dog, an old mongrel, bit him as he held its mouth shut until it couldn't breathe properly and then tried to pull the dog's tongue.

The man was very intoxicated and the dog lashed out, said Constable Conrad Smith of National Park police.

The dog was seized but returned to its owners who would not be prosecuted.

"All I can say is you don't tease dogs. In a way of was self-inflicted," Mr Smith said.

"It appears he definitely was hassling it and squeezing it. He was trying to open the dog's mouth and grab its tongue and it has just lashed out at him.

"It was a bit of a bitser. It was not a pit bull or anything. It was an old dog, it has been around for a long time," Mr Smith said.

Police did not blame the dog.

"You don't need to encourage them and tease them or antagonise them like what was happening on this occasion."

Ruapehu District Council spokesman Paul Wheatcroft said it was protocol to seize dogs which bit people but after the matter was investigated, the dog was returned to its owners.

He said it was a nice old dog which just ran out of patience with the man who was teasing it.

The victim, in his late 30s, was taken by ambulance to Taumarunui Hospital but later transferred by Taupo Rescue Helicopter to Waikato Hospital for more complex medical treatment.

- NZPA