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Dog Attack At Saca Park In Adelaide


Zug Zug
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I just saw a quick teaser for tonight's news, and it mentions that a young girl has been taken to hospital after being attacked by a dog at SACA park this weekend (not sure if it was yesterday or today).

Sounds awful - does anyone know what happened? I'm hoping the little girl has not been seriously hurt.

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Guest Arcane

It was me who asked on FB about this. I have since heard it was a Rhodesian Ridgeback, which may be true seeing as the RR club had a show at the grounds yesterday. I really don't have any other info so I won't make any assumptions.....

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It was Saturday and a Ridgeback as reported on the news.

Since it was the second attack in the council area in a short amount of time, they are apparently looking at enforcing tougher rules.

Might be hard since the dog show is an event (yes, on council grounds) but it could have happened no matter where the event was staged, and it's likely the dog doesn't actually live in the council area!

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Just hoping for some good news about the little girl. Video footage shown on the news reel showed lots of images of SACA park and showed an ambulance stretcher/bed being wheeled off (presumably with the girl in the bed...?)

Which worried me

They were saying it is the 2nd dog attack within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield in recent weeks, and they are now talking about the possible need for stricter rules about dogs.

But if they were within the SACA grounds, I don't know it just seems like Council rules would be kind of obsolete but obviously I have no idea what happened.

ETA: Oops Paptacular just read your post! Snap.

Edited by Zug Zug
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It was a little boy with a facial injury.

There were quite a few photos shown of him with RRs so he might be an exhibitor's child?

No mention of circumstances, only shots of other exhibitors, his injuries and the unrelated other recent incident.

Eta: snap Paptacular, I was too slow posting

Edited by Rottshowgirl
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Oh dear - kids are just at eye level with larger dogs, and so many of their injuries are to the face.

I really do hope he is not badly hurt or scarred.

It's a little odd that the story was on the news (ch 7 anyway) but not on their website and not on the Adelaide Now website. Makes me think perhaps some more information has come to light, and that perhaps 'dog attack' may not be an accurate description in some way...?

Edited by Zug Zug
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I can confirm that there was a dog attack at SACA on Saturday. It was my 9 year old son that was attacked.

I am a Rhodesian Ridgeback owner and exhibitor on the day and it was NOT my Ridgeback that attacked him.

My son has injuries to his face, hand and wrist. He has stitches under his eye and nose, his nose is very swollen and bruised. He has puncture wounds, cuts and bruises to his hand and wrist. He suffered shock for quite a few hours, including nausea and vomiting. It was not a good day at all.

The photos on the news story are of my son and our Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Edited by shezz
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Shezz I hope your sons recovers quickly. How awful for him and for you.

If a dog is so unstable that a child being "too close" to it provokes an attack then it shouldn't be at a dog show. I have to wonder why the owner allowed your child so close to the dog if it had that kind of temperament. Surely the owner could have politely told your child not to get too close to the dog etc. It's not your son who is to blame here, it's the owner of the dog who attacked him.

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Oh Shezz I'm so sorry for you and your family. I hope he recovers quickly and doesn't lose his confidence around dogs. I totally agree that the owners should know enough about their dogs to not bring them into your space, where your children are, if they are not 100% safe. Onus is on them and not you, when they approach your kids' space like that.

Hugs to your little one, he must have been terrified.

Edited by Alyosha
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Guest Arcane

Thank you for coming in and giving us factual information.

I wish your son a speedy and full recovery.

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Shezz I hope your sons recovers quickly. How awful for him and for you.

If a dog is so unstable that a child being "too close" to it provokes an attack then it shouldn't be at a dog show. I have to wonder why the owner allowed your child so close to the dog if it had that kind of temperament. Surely the owner could have politely told your child not to get too close to the dog etc. It's not your son who is to blame here, it's the owner of the dog who attacked him.

I agree. I am really quite annoyed that the owner is making claims in her statement that she asked my son to move back from the dog, which is completely untrue. I have witnesses who confirm that she did not say anything to my son at all. I feel that she is making excuses for her dog and trying to lay the blame on my son. However, I strongly feel that there is NO EXCUSE for a dog to attack a child whatsoever, regardless of how close he was to the dog. If the dog is capable of an attack he should never have been at the show and certainly not have come into a gazebo where there were 4 children.

I totally agree Shezz - and hope very much that your son recovers quickly and completely.

It must have been an awful experience for you.

In my experience a lot of people just automatically defend their dog - almost like a gut reaction - even if deep down they are very sorry about what has happened. I hope that, in the clear light of day, they have an opportunity to think through what has happened and do/say what is right.

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I don't think an ongoing discussion of this event is particularly wise for a range of reasons:

* I imagine SACA will be investigating

* There may be civil action resulting from it.

* We have only one side of the story (regardless of how accurate it is)

There are no winners in situations like this. We have a scarred and traumatised child, a horrified and outraged parent and, my guess is a horrified owner and a soon to be PTS dog. I think a little empathy wouldn't be wasted on the owner of the dog - imagine yourself faced with the decision that person is going to have to make. I imagine they will never exhibit any dog again. Would you?

And lets not kid ourselves that the owner would have known that the dog would do this. Any dog large enough to inflict injury is "capable of such an attack". And in all likelihood, unless the child was in the dog's face very quickly, the dog DID give a warning - that no one saw.

As I said, no winners. My advice would be to wrap this thread up. If I were your solicitor Shezz, I'd be counselling you to keep all comments about the incident to yourself. Trial by Facebook and DOL are neither fair nor wise.

Edited by Haredown Whippets
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