EXCLUSIVE
A mother and her teenage son were viciously mauled after one of the family’s six American pitbull terriers escaped their property in Sydney’s west.
Blood-curdling screams were heard in suburban St Marys on Monday as mum Kim and her teenage son were set upon by the family’s prized pitbull terrier Luna about 11am.
Daily Mail Australia witnessed the teenager crying out for help after the stocky dog sunk its razor-sharp teeth into his left arm.
The teen – with blood running down his forearm – fled the savage canine and sought help at a neighbour’s home. A Daily Mail reporter, who just happened to be in the area, called the police.
It is the latest in a spate of brutal dog attacks nationwide which leading animal behaviourist and veterinarian Kate Lindsey said is being caused by ‘bad breeding practices’.
The mother of a 15-year-old who was set upon by their American pitbull terrier got caught in the cross fire
The 15-year-old (pictured right) suffered deep wounds on his forearm during the attack
Police who attended the property were forced to usedcapsicum spray to subdue the dog that attacked the boy and mother
Within minutes of the attack, police cars rushed to the home, which has a dog pen out the front alongside piles of rubbish.
The 40-year-old mum was seen emerging from her property with deep bite and scratch marks all over her belly and back.
The pair were treated at the scene for their injuries by NSW Ambulance paramedics who wrapped the mother and son’s arms in bandages and took them to hospital.
Police had to clamber in an open window of the home and separate the other agitated dogs using capsicum spray.
Oldest sister Tahna said this isn’t the first occasion Luna had attacked a family member – adding that the family at one point owned eight pitbulls.
‘She (once) bit me here [gesturing to her left breast] and on my back,’ Tahna, 18, told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Maybe now (mum’s) been bitten she will get Luna put down.’
Tahna added that the family had recently lost two dogs who were impounded after running away.
The RSPCA arrived at the home at 12.20pm where officers could be speaking to the dog owner while he smoked cigarettes on the front steps.
The inspectors left the property without removing any animals.
Nearby Chifley College Dunheved went into lockdown until the canine was retrieved and put in a fenced enclosure.
The vicious pitbull terrier attacked after escaping from its ramshackle front yard dog pen
Another of the six dogs that lives at the property briefly escaped before the owner was able to usher the dog into the house
RSPCA inspectors attended the Maple Road property but did not remove any of the owner’s six dogs
Police gather at the scene where an escaped pitbull terrier savagely bit a mother and her son
Dr Lindsey told Daily Mail Australia bad breeding practices often leave big breeds of dog in chronic pain which causes the aggressive behaviour that has made headlines.
‘I guarantee you those dogs will have a history of anxiety or physical health problems,’ she said.
‘Pain is the leading cause of anxiety especially aggressive type behaviours in large breed dogs.
‘In my experience treating 15,600 dogs with anxiety and aggression the majority of large breed dogs manifesting aggression have an underlying health condition that has not been treated.
‘In all cases the problem is resolved when the dog is given relief for pain and anxiety.’
Earlier on Monday a man was left fighting for life he was set upon by two Rottweilers in a vicious attack that also killed a cat in Sydney’s southwest.
Emergency services were called to a home on George Road at Leppington, in Sydney’s southwest, at about 7.30am on Monday.
A man aged in his 50s had been on a walk when he was suddenly attacked by the dogs who had escaped from a private property.
The victim was left with bite wounds to his head, neck, arm and leg, while a cat at a neighbouring home was reportedly killed by the dogs.
On Saturday afternoon Perth woman Nikita Piil, 31, needed emergency surgery to save her arm after pet rottweilers Bronx and Harlem began mauling her at at her home in the southern suburb of Success.
Horrified neighbours tried to distract the dogs but it was only when a police officer was forced to shoot one of the animals that the savaging stopped.
The shot animal later had to be put down.
Last Friday an Adelaide man and his sister sustained serious injuries requiring surgery when their family dog, a Sharpei-Pitbull cross named Caliche, began attacking them during an argument at a home in Brompton on Tuesday.
Clifford Newchurch, 42, had been visiting family when the dog suddenly launched at him in a vicious attack, latching onto his hand and tearing at the flesh with its teeth.
Perth woman Nikita Piil was mauled by her pet rottweilers on Saturday with police being forced to shoot one of the animals to stop the savaging
After the family managed to distract the animal by pouring boiling water on it the dog turned on Mr Newchurch’s sister Stella, 39.
After prying the dog off the woman family members locked it in a bedroom while the family fought to keep the door shut as the powerful dog tore at the wood.
The dog, which has been a family pet for eight years, is likely to be put down.
Dr Lindsey said there was no such thing as an ‘aggressive breed’ only aggressive individual animals responding to what they perceived were the causes of their suffering.
‘A dog is aggressive for a reason, there always has to be a threat,’ Dr Lindsay said.
‘Sometimes that threat is internal, they feel sick nauseous and that dog uses aggressive behaviours to feel safe.
‘Or they just feel pain and they think what on Earth of is causing pain?
‘It must be that person or that person, until they started patting me I didn’t feel pain.
‘Rottweilers can be the sweetest loving dogs when they aren’t in pain.’
Leading Perth animal behaviourist and veterinarian Kate Lindsey blames dodgy breeders for producing animals with defects that lead to aggressive behaviour
She said dodgy backyard breeders of rottweilers and pitbulls were producing dogs with multiple maladies and treatments sometimes only made behaviour worse.
‘Due to poor breeding the majority of rotties have chronic pain by the aqe of two in the form of degenerative joint disease,’ Dr Lindsay said.
‘Pitbulls have lists of heritable disease including hip dysplasia, cruciate disease, endocrinopathies, chronic skin inflammation.
‘They are frequently started on prednisolone, a steroid that exacerbates aggressive behaviours.’
She said breeders who failed to screen for congenital issues but instead were ‘pumping out’ dogs needed to held accountable for putting people at risk.
‘Not one of those breeders has faced consequences for the issues caused by aggression resulting from the physical problems the dogs have been born with.’
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