Dangerous dogs maul 8-year old Glasgow girl
Once more we find ourselves asking –
“What is to be done with dogs that attack and maim innocent children?…and what is to be done with their owners?”
Big, powerful, intimidating animals such as American bulldogs – the type of dogs that attacked this young girl – can hardly be described as family pets, can they? This is a typical photograph of a well-muscled, extremely powerful dog that has to be harnessed. Says it all really…
We don’t know the full circumstances surrounding this latest incident but we do know this – the risk to children from vicious, uncontrollable dogs is a real and present danger and nothing much is being done to stop it.
The Control of Dogs (Scotland ) Act was meant to make a difference but why do we rarely if ever hear it quoted in relation to the dangerous and life-threatening behaviour of problem dogs. Deed not breed was the mantra that heralded the introduction of the new legislation…
In this latest extremely distressing case, emergency services were called to a horrific scene on Friday evening after an eight-year-old girl was savaged for over six minutes by two American bulldogs when playing with a friend in the back court of her home in Gartloch Road, Garthamlock.
Broagan McCuaig has undergone surgery at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow for lacerations to her face, a broken right leg and serious bite wounds to her left leg. The little girl is currently in the hospital’s high dependency unit.
A man, 34, and a woman, 33, have been charged with offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act after the incident which took place just after 5.00pm. Police said the dogs had been seized and inquiries were continuing.
The little girl, in shock and covered in blood, was only saved when two passers-by stepped in to rescue her. One man forced the dogs off her by kicking them while another carried Broagan into the block of flats where she lives on Gartloch Road. The dogs’ owner eventually managed to get them under control and took them back to his flat. Broagan’s mum said: “The dogs were holding her in their jaws and shaking her as if she was a rag doll. It was the worst day of my life.”
The challenge for personal injury lawyers representing dog attack victims and their families is that in many cases the dog owners will not be insured making it difficult, though not impossible, to sue them for damages.
Andy Thorogood
