Source: Radio New Zealand
The cyclist was travelling at about 40km/h when the dog attacked. File photo. 123rf.com
A Taranaki cyclist is on crutches with several “bone deep” puncture wounds after a roaming dog latched onto her leg.
The attack sent the New Plymouth woman crashing off her bike while she was out on a country road.
A spate of serious dogs attacks has [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/587406/what-dog-control-laws-say-about-fatal-attacks-and-what-people-want-to-change
sparked fierce debate] about reforming the 30-year-old dog control law.
A dog attack in Christchurch over the weekend put a father and his teenage son in hospital, while Mihiata Te Rore, 62, died after she was attacked by three dogs while visiting a property in Kaihu, north of Dargaville last week.
New Plymouth resident Amelia was cycling a popular loop outside the city on Saturday morning when she was rushed by an uncontrolled dog on Tikorangi East Road.
Amelia estimated she was going about 40 km/h at the time down a country road she did not usually use.
She told Checkpoint she slowed down when she heard barking, and then saw a German pointer staffy cross dart out of a farm property into the middle of the road.
“As I slowed past it, it just came up next to me and chomped its jaws around my right leg while I was on my bike.”
Amelia said she came off her bike, and then the dog went to the other side of the street and continued barking at them.
She was left with “multiple” puncture wounds on her leg.
“They are bone deep so there’s probably three quite deep punctures, which I’m managing at the moment. I can’t walk on it properly yet, but I should be able to soon.”
Amelia is now on crutches, and said it was frustrating because she was training for a race in March.
She said residents in the area had helped her after the crash, and one of them told her the dog bitten his foot the week before.
Amelia said the animal control officers were “fast and efficient” and quickly took the dog away.
“I didn’t even see them come, I was already in the ambulance by then.”
New Plymouth District Council has confirmed one of its Animal Control Officers attended the dog-bite incident on Tikorangi Road in the weekend.
A spokesperson said a dog had been impounded and an investigation into what happened was underway.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
