Tourist viciously attacked by two dogs, search warrant needed to find the animals

The attack occurred at Bruce Pullman Park in South Auckland. Photo / Supplied

Two dogs attacked a tourist as he strolled through a Takanini park, dragging him to the ground and lunging for his throat.

"One came at full speed, leaped up, grabbed my thigh and toppled me to the ground and then took a bite."

The tourist said another dog then arrived and tried to go for his neck.

Only moments before, the man, whom the Herald has agreed not to name, saw the pitbull mix and a rottweiler mix, playing with their owner and a child.

On an afternoon walk three weeks ago, he said he was about 20m from the dogs, walking perpendicular to them.

The dogs were racing between their owner and a child at Bruce Pullman Park, when one of them veered away and sped towards the tourist, in his 50s.

"For no reason, the dogs ran past the owner towards me."

One of the dogs sank its teeth into the man's upper thigh, tackling him to the ground, while another tried to get close to his face as he fought it off.

"I went into shock, there was no pain initially. But I was sweating profusely after.

The tourist still cannot run or cycle weeks after the vicious attack. Photo / Supplied

"What if this happened to a child?"

Yelling at his dogs, the owner ran over and whacked the animal that was latched to the victim's leg.

But after wrangling the dogs under control, the owner started scratching the stomach of the dog that had brought the man crashing down, he said.

After chaining both dogs in his van, the owner drove the visitor to Takanini Urgent Care, giving the injured man an old envelope to record the owner's information on.

But he later found out the dog owner had given him a false name and phone number.

He did, however, take down the van's registration plate, and on the envelope he was given was an address to a property, which he said Auckland Council later told him had gang associations.

The tourist was advised by doctors at the Takanini Urgent Care that he should go to Middlemore Hospital.

The tourist was told to go to Middlemore Hospital, where the punctures were painfully washed out. Photo / Supplied

"There was a series of puncture holes around both bites on my leg. The skin was torn away from the muscle."

Getting the wound cleaned at hospital was incredibly painful, he said.

"You could squirt saline into a puncture hole and it would come out like a shower head."

His leg was bandaged tightly, but the injury is still painful.

"I used to cycle quite a bit, I'm not doing that now. I can't run, I can't do anything strenuous."

His leg is expected to heal, but the traumatic attack has scared him.

"I'm wary of dogs now. I'm very wary of dogs now.

"I'm never walking again in that park when I go back to Auckland. The fact that it happened in the first place was absolutely appalling.

"I've got a right to walk across a public reserve without being attacked by dogs."

A tourist was taken to Middlemore Hospital after he was viciously attacked by two dogs at Bruce Pulman park in Takanini. Photo / Supplied

He complained to the council about the attack the next day and was told the council knew about the dogs and had previous issues with them.

The council said it had visited the address where the van was, but "could not gain access to the property" and it didn't sound like the dogs were there.

He was told the council was speaking to police to try to get a search warrant to the address, known to be a gang residence.

Three weeks after the attack, the dogs are not believed to have not been captured or destroyed.

"It means someone else needs to be attacked, or there's some other complaint against these dogs before they can get them, I guess."

"Clearly a group of people are training the dogs this way – so they could seize the dogs and destroy them but someone else will have them and train them that way."

Kerri Fergusson, manager animal management at Auckland Council, said the animal management team were investigating the attack, working closely with police.

"Due to the fact that the investigation into this attack is ongoing, we are unable to comment any further at this stage.

"We extend our deepest sympathy to the man and his family who have been left traumatised.

"We take incidents like this very seriously and we are working as quickly as we can to find the dogs that were responsible and ensure public safety.

Fergusson said animal management investigated all reported dog attacks.

"If anyone witnesses a dog attack they are encouraged to phone Auckland Council straight away to report it and supply as many details as possible, including descriptions of the dogs and owners, and any supporting details such as address where the dog was last seen or car registration plate numbers."

The tourist's attack follows that of a 9-year-old girl who was playing in shallow water when she was attacked by a dog.

Christiana Holt's ear was bitten by a rogue staffy-cross and she needed hospital treatment.

The owner of the dog told her father he would put his dog in his vehicle and return, but then fled from the beach.