A New Zealand mother of six is recovering in hospital after suffering serious injuries, including the loss of part of her skull, when three pit bulls attacked her while she was walking her own dog.
Trudy Lee, 35, was only about 100 meters from her home in Manurewa, South Auckland, when she saw the pack of stray dogs running down the street, but said she assumed they were running towards her dog and not her.
“My dog managed to get out of her collar because they were ready to attack her and she ran home,” Ms Lee told police. NZ Herald from her hospital bed.
But instead of chasing her pet, she said the three dogs knocked her to the ground, before one latched onto her arm, another to her leg and the third to the top of her head.
“They tore the tendons out of my arm… They basically tried to tear me apart.”
Ms Lee said she screamed, which attracted the attention of neighbors who came to her aid as the dogs ran away.
She said the bystanders called an ambulance and tried to help her stop the bleeding while an ambulance arrived.
She said it seemed to take “ages” due to the extent of her injuries and the pain she was in.
‘I was just trying to survive… I thought I was going to die on that sidewalk. I looked up to my daughter because my children were in front of me. They were in shock, they have never seen their mother like this before.’
Mum-of-six Tracy Lee has had part of her skull ripped off by a pack of three pit bulls
She is recovering in hospital after multiple surgeries
Auckland Council said it had located the dogs and put them down (stock image)
She was given a blood transfusion in the back of the ambulance and rushed to nearby Middlemore Hospital.
There, doctors performed multiple surgeries, including skin grafts and surgery to close the hole in her skull, and she is ready for more before she is discharged.
Ms Lee said she was afraid to sleep the first few nights in hospital because she feared she might not wake up.
Although she is “still in shock”, she said it could have been worse as primary school children from two nearby schools were also on the streets.
Moreover, she could easily have had her own two young daughters, aged 8 and 9, with her, as they sometimes accompany her when she walks the dog.
A Give a little page was set up to help pay Ms Lee’s hospital bills.
Auckland Council said they had located the three dogs which have since been euthanized.
The incident is one of an alarming number of dog attacks in Auckland in recent years.
Between 2022 and 2023, there was a 10 percent increase in dog attacks.
It is illegal to import pit bulls into New Zealand, but they are already in the country.
By law they are muzzled when on the street, but the three dogs that attacked Ms Lee were strays.