A young boy was left needing plastic surgery after being mauled by a dog as he played in his friend's garden. Freddie Turner suffered multiple puncture wounds in the vicious dog attack.
The seven-year-old was playing with friends in Wakefield last month when he was set upon by a dog on the loose. The youngster was rushed to hospital and had to undergo surgery after the dog "tried tearing him to bits."
Freddie is still recovering but is said to be dealing with the mental consequences of the attack. His father Nik told Yorkshire Live : "He keeps reliving it, and if he sees a big dog he tries to hide."
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The schoolboy was playing with other children, including his sister, in his friend's garden, when an unaccompanied dog made its way inside.
Nik said: "It chased them around the front garden, so they’ve run into the back garden to go into the back of the property, and the dog’s jumped up and grabbed hold of Freddie and pulled him into the middle of the garden and tried tearing him to bits." His eight-year-old sister then called their parents.
"She phoned her mum screaming down the phone," Nik remembers. He said Freddie's friend's family helped him inside. When Nik arrived, he found Freddie "on the floor bleeding".
"He had to have plastic surgery. He had a lot of puncture wounds to his shoulder and his chest and his back, and he had a big cut underneath his arm which needed stitching back up," said Nik.
Freddie was one of several victims believed to have been attacked by the same dog. A 62-year-old man was also bitten nearby just minutes after Freddie was attacked. Police received a further report a person had been injured by a dog in the area on Tuesday, April 26.
At the time, a spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police told Yorkshire Live: "Police are investigating following reports of two people being bitten by a loose dog in South Kirkby last Wednesday (20 April). Officers were initially called at 5.40pm to a report that a 7-year-old boy had been bitten by a dog, described as an Alsation, in the garden of a property on Holmsley Avenue.
"A further report was received at 5.46pm that a 62-year-old man had been bitten by a dog matching the same description on Mill Close. Both victims required hospital treatment for their injuries. It was reported that the dog was taken away by two males following the incident on Mill Close and enquiries are being made to identify the owner of this dog."
They added: "Police received a third-party report at 2.17pm on Tuesday, April 26, that a man had been taken to hospital after being bitten by a dog on Mill Lane, South Kirkby. The dog was reported to still be in the area. The council dog warden was notified and both the police and dog warden made an extensive area search, with a number of addresses checked, but the dog was not located."
Inspector Nick Drinkall, of Wakefield District Patrol Team, said: "We understand that these incidents are causing concern in the local community and I would like to reassure residents that we are working with the dog warden to locate this dog and identify its owner. If anyone believes they have seen this dog they are urged to report this to us as soon as they can. We will not tolerate people allowing their dogs to be dangerously out of control and will take action."
Anyone with information is asked to contact police by either calling 101 or using 101 Live Chat on the West Yorkshire Police website quoting crime reference 13220211431.
