Mom shares horrifying footage of her four-year-old daughter’s face bitten after she was mauled by an American bulldog – as she recounts a desperate struggle to drag a girl away from a crazed animal during a horror attack
- Little Luna-Ann Forsyth, four, was attacked by the dog at a friend’s house nearby
- She was rushed to hospital and had to get 40 stitches on her facial wounds
A four-year-old girl needed 40 stitches to her face after being mauled by an American Bulldog during an attack.
Tiny Luna-Ann Forsyth was held to the ground by the animal, who had to be beaten by her mother Amy Hobson, 32, to dislodge it from its grip.
The nightmare unfolded Thursday afternoon at a friend’s house in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Mrs Hobson has to take Luna to hospital by taxi after the operators said an ambulance would take several hours.
When they arrived at the hospital, Luna had to be rushed for treatment and the ordeal of 40 stitches in her face from the wounds.
Little Luna-Ann Forsyth, four, was attacked by the dog at a friend’s house nearby last week
Surgeons toiled on her for two hours and have warned her she will be left with permanent scars.
Amy said the dog had been in a room upstairs but managed to open the door and came down.
She told the Mirror: “The dog came to me so I harassed him as I always have, my daughter Luna called out the dog’s name so she could pester him as she always has.
He grabbed her face and brought her to the ground.
“I was kicking and hitting the dog to get it off her and I got my little girl off the ground and immediately called 999.
Mrs Hobson has to take Luna to hospital by taxi after the operators said an ambulance would take several hours
“They said they couldn’t send an ambulance to me, it would take them a few hours to get to me, so I took a taxi to the emergency room.
“There was a lot of blood. Luna was calm and brave, it was me who panicked and cried.”
Police say an investigation has been launched and the dog has been seized and destroyed.
Dr. John Tulloch, a veterinary public health expert at the University of Liverpool, wrote a 2021 research paper that revealed a surprising rise in dog bite incidents over the past 20 years.
He told MailOnline that while wider research into what caused the explosion in these attacks has been limited, “worrying” trends had emerged that he has seen in more recent dog ownership.
Possible explanations include broader changes in society, with more dogs now being bought from unregulated or foreign breeders, or the way people interact with their pets – fueled by TikTok trends or videos in hopes of garnering likes online .
Dr. Tulloch told MailOnline: ‘Over the past 20 years or so there has been a marked increase in cases of serious dog attacks, it’s creeping up and up and we should call it what it is, a growing public health problem.
“In most cases, it is a dog known to the victim, as these events take place behind closed doors.
“Children are still responsible for about 25 percent of hospitalizations from dog bites, but we need to understand why adults are now being attacked more, it’s a striking problem.”
