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.
Tiny Luna-Ann Forsyth was pinned to the ground by the animal, which had to be beaten by mother Amy Hobson, 32, to dislodge it from its grasp.
The nightmare unfolded Thursday afternoon at a friend’s house in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Mrs Hobson had to take Luna to hospital by taxi after the operators said an ambulance would take several hours.
When they arrived, Luna was rushed for treatment and put through the ordeal of 40 stitches in her face from the wounds.
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 mother that she will have permanent scars.
Mrs Hobson 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 fussed him like I always have, my daughter Luna called out the dog’s name so she could harass him like 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 get 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 courageous, it was I 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 higher and higher 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 still account 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.’