Young girl survives violent attack by rottweiler on a beach in WA

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A four-year-old girl has survived a horrifying ordeal on a beach in Western Australia's southwest. The girl was viscously mauled by a rottweiler, with bystanders forced to use brute strength to get the animal off her.

Transcript

00:00A little girl recovering at home, her family struggling to come to terms with what they've

00:10seen.

00:11Four-year-old Lucia was playing in knee-deep water at Quindalup Beach with her older siblings

00:15and mother last week when an off-leash dog raced towards her, grabbing her by the neck,

00:21repeatedly pulling her underwater.

00:23I obviously ran into the water to try and pull Lucia off.

00:27The other two kids that were in the vicinity at the time were also trying to help.

00:33However the power and the strength of a dog of this breed, Rottweiler, and size, you're

00:43powerless to do anything.

00:46A bystander raced in to help, eventually getting the dog off the child, who was now bleeding

00:50heavily and barely responsive.

00:53She was taken to the local hospital and flown to Perth where she underwent surgery for puncture

00:58wounds to her neck, back and shoulder.

01:01When you can see the, sorry it's still quite emotional, but when you can see that their

01:06heartbeat is stable, that's all you care for at that point.

01:11You know that those will heal, but to not know that she was going to survive makes,

01:23you know, yeah, that's hugely traumatic.

01:27The dog involved in the attack has been put down, the City of Busselton saying an investigation

01:32into the incident is underway.

01:34Natalie is speaking out to alert other parents to the unpredictability of dogs and the dangers

01:40that large, powerful breeds can present.

01:43They have the propensity to cause huge amounts of injury or damage.

01:50They are often unpredictable and most of the time when they attack, it's unprovoked.

01:57And that's just not a risk that I think any responsible parent is willing to take, therefore

02:02they need to be armed with the knowledge of this is what these dogs look like and they

02:08cannot be trusted.

02:11Lucia will have ongoing medical treatment to manage her wounds, but is expected to make

02:15a full recovery.

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