A police horse is back on patrol in east London after being attacked by a dog in distressing scenes caught on camera.
Urbane has finished a three-month recovery after he was targeted by what is believed to be an American XL bully dog while out on patrol at Victoria Park in March.
He needed stitches to his torso and legs after receiving wounds to his front legs, chest and under belly.
Urbane was pictured on Tuesday back in Victoria Park “conducting robbery patrols”.
PH Urbane back in Victoria Park conducting robbery patrols #lookoutlookup he took it all in his stride 🥰. Please be aware of your belongings, especially mobile phones 🤳 when out ^5053CO pic.twitter.com/7vMYAPbcig
— Met Police Taskforce (@MetTaskforce) June 27, 2023
Urbane “took it all in his stride”, the Met said, as members of the public pleased with his recovery commented, calling Urbane a “brave boy” and a “beautiful horse”.
The horse “has always been a dog lover” the force said in April, and despite the attack, Urbane took a liking to a black labrador dog during his recovery at the Horse Trust in Buckinghamshire.
Distressing footage of the attack, which attracted hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, showed a man jabbing at the dog with a large stick before it bit Urbane’s leg and held on as the horse began to buckle.
The dog, which was not on a lead, was finally pulled away and the officer dismounted before shouting “get that lead on that dog now.”
Its owner was interviewed under police caution but not arrested.
Sgt Carly Harber, from the Met’s Police Mounted Section, said Urbane was a “remarkably dependable horse with a playful side to his character.”
Following the attack, a man claimed his American XL bully Coco started mauling the police horse because she was “intimidated” after seeing a horse for the first time in Victoria Park.
Owner Hakan Niyazi, 24, told MailOnline: “My dog has believed the horse is trying to attack it and as a defence mechanism has kind of tried to stick up for itself.
“Because it’s a police horse it has become over-exaggerated.
“The dog has been seized by the police. They are probably going to have it put down.”
His brother, who declined to be named, described the attack as an “unfortunate set of circumstances” adding: “It’s a family pet. The dog is young - it is barely a year old. It is basically in training. It is by no means vicious to kids or other pets.
“He has taken it to a public place to walk it and do a bit of training.
“It is the first occasion of meeting a horse. It has approached the horse and the horse has got skittish and something has happened and as a result of it the dog has been seized.”
