Child Seriously Mauled By Four Dogs

[Podengo]

Child seriously mauled by four dogs

A Japanese girl is in a critical condition after being mauled by four dogs had just moved to New Zealand with her parents at the start of the year.

The girl, aged 7, was playing in the yard of a property in Murupara owned by friends of the family when she was attacked by four "mastiff-type" dogs belonging to the owner of the property this afternoon, police said.

She sustained life-threatening facial injuries in the attack, and was taken to Murupara Medical Centre, St John Ambulance communications team manager Norm Ngatai said.

She was airlifted to Rotorua Hospital about 1.30pm, and was then flown by helicopter to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital in a critical condition.

The family was new to New Zealand, and the girl did not appear to speak English, BayTrust Rescue Helicopter pilot Art Kowalski said.

"My understanding is that they have just gained residency and moved here at the beginning of the year.

"Her father came with us and was translating back and forward between her and our paramedic."

The girl's injuries were "extensive", and affected about 90 per cent of her face, he said.

She also suffered puncture wounds to both arms, legs and hips.

Bay of Plenty police communications spokeswoman Kim Perks said police were informed of the attack shortly after 2pm.

All four dogs have been euthanased by a vet.

A police investigation is under way.

Senior Sergeant Brendon Keenan said it was a "very distressing'' time for the family.

"We do know that the young girl was at a friend's house..a friend of the family, and then she has engaged with this dog... It looks as though we could have up to four dogs involved here,'' he told Radio New Zealand.

"The owner of the dog has been very supportive of this very distressful situation... the dogs have already been put down with the help of a vet.

No-one else had been in danger, he said.

Murupara community board chairman Jacob Te Kurapa said he met the family three weeks ago, giving them a box of throw-outs from the community.

"I've only met them once - a nice, quiet family."

The community board was supporting the family and had them in their thoughts and prayers, Te Kurapa said.

It was not the first serious dog attack in Murupara.

In April 2007, Virginia Ohlson, a 56 year old mother of one was fatally injured when two dogs, a pitbull and staffordshire-cross, attacked her as she walked along Pine Drive in Murupara.

She was just 200m from her home when the dogs attacked.

She suffered multiple bites to her legs and died from trauma and shock on her way to hospital.

Since that incident, walkers in Murupara had developed serious concerns about out-of-control dogs in the area, Te Kurapa said.

"Constituents of mine, who are walkers in the morning and at night, are telling me that they are now having to carry sticks to protect themselves from dogs.

"People have been reporting it to the council, but unfortunately the downside here is we only have an animal control officer that works three hours a day."

Some walkers were now thinking about attaching knives to the end of sticks to protect themselves, Te Kurapa said.

"I don't encourage people to carry knives strapped to sticks as some were suggesting they would do as a result of this incident.

"I do encourage that the council may step up patrols at the right times and I also go back to the call of asking all dog owners to be more responsible with their pet dogs."

- © Fairfax NZ News

[melzawelza]

How absolutely horrendous

[Jed]

Frightful. Poor little girl, poor family, I do hope she survives.

But I do wish the "authorities" would try to ascertain the cause of attacks, and would make information on how to prevent attacks available to everyone.

[VizslaMomma]

Frightful. Poor little girl, poor family, I do hope she survives.

But I do wish the "authorities" would try to ascertain the cause of attacks, and would make information on how to prevent attacks available to everyone.

I agree with you about hoping for the best for the wee girl.

Existing content removed to satisfy Danbois.

Edited March 5, 2014 by VizslaMomma

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Poor little girl, I hate to imagine those injuries and what she may look like. I hope she survives but her life may well be ruined, plastic surgery can only do so much.

[korbin13]

I agree, what a terrible thing to have to go through.

The poor child was playing in the yard with four large dogs!

[Dame Aussie]

Again, completely avoidable

[sandgrubber]

Poor girl, poor family. What a welcome to a new country!

I would like to hear that the owners of the dogs were held criminally liable and made to pay for the costs of pain and suffering and a small girl, quite likely disfigured for life. I would expect to hear that the dogs were pts and the owners went off and got some more dogs to replace them.

If the dog owners were held responsible for the full extent of the damage that poorly managed dogs cause, a dog catcher for 3 hrs a day might be more than sufficient.

Edited March 3, 2014 by sandgrubber

[Podengo]

Heard a little more on the news this morning, apparently the dogs were PTS straight away. They were all registered and microchipped, still listed as "mastiff type" dogs. The mayor of the town did mention pig dogs being prevalent in the area but didn't mention whether these particular dogs were pig dogs, and said the owner is a responsible dog owner who is very distraught about what happened.

[Podengo]

This afternoon's update on the story...

"The girl, 7 remained in a critical condition this morning, a hospital spokeswoman said."

"Police today confirmed the dogs were Staffordshire bull terrier crosses."

"The dogs were registered and micro-chipped family pets, police said. They were secure on the owners' semi-rural property and there were adults on the property at the time of the attack.

While there was no legal requirement for the dogs to be seized after the attack, police said the owner immediately took steps to have them put down by a vet."

[sandgrubber]

Heard a little more on the news this morning, apparently the dogs were PTS straight away. They were all registered and microchipped, still listed as "mastiff type" dogs. The mayor of the town did mention pig dogs being prevalent in the area but didn't mention whether these particular dogs were pig dogs, and said the owner is a responsible dog owner who is very distraught about what happened.

Almost every dog owner thinks they are a responsible owner. Distraught? Of course they are distraught. Anyone would be, if for no other reason, because there's a possibility they they might be held liable (not to say they aren't distraught about the little girl's suffering). Remorse does not absolve guilt. If the dogs truly were secure, the accident would not have happened.

[Podengo]

The latest

Dog attack shakes up community

A dog attack which left a seven-year-old Japanese girl fighting for her life has rocked the Bay of Plenty community where the youngster and her family had planned to set down roots.

Murupara's Sakurako Uehara was attacked by four Staffordshire bull terrier-cross dogs while visiting a family friend at a property on Monday afternoon.

She is a pupil at Te Kura Kaupapa Motuhake o Tawhiuau.

She was in Middlemore Hospital and last night her condition was listed as "critical but stable". It was not expected to change for several days.

It was understood the owner of the dogs was a good friend of the Sakurako's father, Yasuyuki and her mother, Kumiko. He had given the newcomers vegetables grown from his maara kai (garden).

Rua Te Pairi, who worked with the dog owner, said: "People think these were big vicious dogs but they weren't, they were small dogs - family pets.

"They were good owners, they were helping them [the Ueharas] out, giving them kai, and the families became fast friends."

It was believed the dog owner left Murupara for Auckland yesterday. Police said the owner had been co-operating with an investigation into the attack.

The Ueharas enrolled their daughter at Te Kura Kaupapa Motuhake o Tawhiuau at the beginning of February for a month and the family was to return to Japan to sort residency requirements. They had planned to return in November.

"They came with the intention of just looking around but they came in and within a half an hour of them being here, they loved it," Pem Bird, the principal of the kura said.

The Waikato Times understands Sakurako's mother had a stint teaching Japanese language at the kura. Staff and pupils at the school held prayers for the family but were still coming to terms with the attack.

"Kids are resilient but they can feel it," Bird said.

Sakurako, described by Bird as an angel, had a week long noho (stay) at Rangitahi marae. The young pupil was far from homesick, she fitted right in, proving language to be no barrier, Bird said.

"Her parents were thrilled with the way she adjusted here. When we heard this happened, we were just absolutely shocked by that," said Bird.

Murupara people were aware of the negative publicity the attack might generate for their town. Some residents had used social media to speak about the attack.

People said they were upset that some animal owners let dogs roam freely around the community while others said dogs needed to be tied up if children were visiting properties where they were kept.

Bird speaks of the Uehara family as if they were his own whanau. He wants to show the community is behind them, so he has organised an appeal.

"Our primary concern is that she pulls through. She's in a stable but critical condition still," Bird said.

"These dogs belong to a family and I know the family, they are good responsible people. They would be so, so devastated."

Bird said he had no doubt the Uehara family would be supported by the community with offers for donations already coming through.

The Murupara Fire Brigade was organising a local appeal with Tawhiuau School, to raise funds to be used to support the Uehara family.

The first concern for the principal was the health of Sakurako and secondly how the community and others may be affected by the attack.

"Exactly what happened, I don't know, but the repercussions are beyond Murupara," Bird said.

Tom Oldridge had been the town's dog control officer since the 1980s but he retired this week and the position was still vacant.

Murupara early childhood teacher Marie Foster said most dog owners were responsible.

"There are a few that don't care but that's the same in every town."

[Staffyluv]

Poor little angel..

[juice]

And again the dogs are put down without anyone getting a chance to see them and find out why, we will never learn if we don't understand what happened.

I don't mean they should live, but should be assessed so we can learn, then pts.

Edited March 5, 2014 by juice

[VizslaMomma]

And again the dogs are put down without anyone getting a chance to see them and find out why, we will never learn if we don't understand what happened.

I don't mean they should live, but should be assessed so we can learn, then pts.

Money would likely be the reason ,imho. Who would pay expenses and damage control would be in the minds of officials.

[Danois]

Frightful. Poor little girl, poor family, I do hope she survives.

But I do wish the "authorities" would try to ascertain the cause of attacks, and would make information on how to prevent attacks available to everyone.

(Original post edited by poster)

I agree with you about hoping for the best for the wee girl.

I think you're using the wrong terminology - it's not without prejudice. What you're meaning is that you're purely speculating.

I also think you're drawing some pretty big generalisations not supported by the news reports.

(I too am from NZ and grew up rural with a father who spent many years as a government hunter in the NZ high country).

Edited March 7, 2014 by Troy
Edit quote

[Rebanne]

And again the dogs are put down without anyone getting a chance to see them and find out why, we will never learn if we don't understand what happened.

I don't mean they should live, but should be assessed so we can learn, then pts.

Money would likely be the reason ,imho. Who would pay expenses and damage control would be in the minds of officials.

I would be so shocked if my dogs did that that the very first thing I would do, as soon as I could, would be to have them PTS.

[Henrietta]

And again the dogs are put down without anyone getting a chance to see them and find out why, we will never learn if we don't understand what happened.

I don't mean they should live, but should be assessed so we can learn, then pts.

Money would likely be the reason ,imho. Who would pay expenses and damage control would be in the minds of officials.

I would be so shocked if my dogs did that that the very first thing I would do, as soon as I could, would be to have them PTS.

Yeah, maybe I'm being selfish now, but I would want to have them pts straight away. I wouldn't want them lingering at the pound for their inevitable fate either. I hope I could shed some light on the investigation just through what I know about them.

[VizslaMomma]

Frightful. Poor little girl, poor family, I do hope she survives.

But I do wish the "authorities" would try to ascertain the cause of attacks, and would make information on how to prevent attacks available to everyone.

I agree with you about hoping for the best for the wee girl.

I think you're using the wrong terminology - it's not without prejudice. What you're meaning is that you're purely speculating.

I also think you're drawing some pretty big generalisations not supported by the news reports.

(I too am from NZ and grew up rural with a father who spent many years as a government hunter in the NZ high country).

I wrote that to hopefully avoid a post like yours.

If you thinking that living in the Bay of Plenty near to that area years ago, precludes my making commments, then there is no point of trying to discuss an issue.

Edited March 5, 2014 by VizslaMomma

[Danois]

It does not preclude you from commenting at all but your post drew lines between dots that did not exist and made assumptions on non existent facts.

If it helps any I know the BOP well ;)