Attack by two dogs on teen female investigated in Invercargill
Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Invercargill City Council dog control has seized two dogs in relation to an attack on a teenage girl on Tuesday night.
The dogs allegedly jumped off a ute and bit the 16-year-old girl, who was walking past on the footpath in Morton St about 7.20pm.
She sustained injuries to her head and arm and was taken to Southland Hospital by St John ambulance.
The council's compliance team leader Elle Dickson said the victim had described the attack to staff.
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Based on the description of the dogs, she said the council's after-hours contractor seized one dog on Tuesday night.
An animal control officer had been assigned to the investigation, and a second dog was subsequently seized on Wednesday.
One of the dogs was a Mastiff cross, and the other a Rottweiler cross, she said.
An investigation into the incident was continuing.
Invercargill dog control figures show that last year there were 226 reports of dog attacks or menacing behaviour. So far this year there have been 212.
These include attacks on people and stock, as well as complaints received about menacing behaviour that did not include an attack, such as rushing at a person, but not actually attacking them.
The district has two dogs classified as dangerous and 133 classified as menacing out of a total of 8662 registered dogs.
There have been two high-profile incidents this year involving dogs.
In June, two rottweilers attacked an autistic man in Winton, leaving him with 60 puncture wounds to his his body, predominantly to his face and head.
The dogs were euthanised by a vet, after an investigation by Southland District Council dog control.
In March, the Invercargill City Council classified two rottweilers from Colyers Island as menacing following an incident where the council said one of them bit a child.
In June, owner Darryl Russell appealed the classification, which was removed in July because the attack on the child could not be proven.