A woman carried a 10-year-old boy to safety after he was mauled in a terrifying dog attack in Bellambi on Tuesday.
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“It took ages for them to get the dog off and the poor boy was screaming,” neighbour Nicole Barnett told the Mercury.
Ms Barnett said she was in the front yard of her Waley Avenue home at about 2pm when she heard the boy screaming.
She said the boy told her the two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Staffordshire terrier cross, “appeared from nowhere” after he entered a fenced property.
The fence has a ‘Beware of the dog. Enter at your own risk’ sign on the front gate.
Ms Barnett said the boy and his brother were searching for a third brother when the dogs appeared.
She watched on as the dogs’ owner beat the animals in an attempt to free the boy.
“Somehow they [the boys] came out of the gate.” Ms Barnett said.
“I said to the other boy quick shut the gate because the dog’s loose … it can come attack other people.
“Then I said come to my house and he said 'I can’t walk' so I had to carry him in.”
Ms Barnett said the boy “screamed in pain” while she called an ambulance.
“He was very traumatised,” she said.
The boy’s mother was notified and arrived at Ms Barnett’s house shortly after the attack.
She attempted to calm the boy, who suffers from asthma.
The boy was taken to Wollongong Hospital with 20 puncture wounds to his legs, arms, hips, stomach, buttocks and head.
He was later transferred to Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick in a serious condition.
The investigation is now in the hands of Wollongong City Council.
The dogs have been seized and will be put down.
Ms Barnett said more needed to be done to control dangerous dogs in the area.
In September 2013, a 21-year-old man was taken to hospital after losing a “chunk” of his leg in a vicious dog attack in Bellambi.
“People shouldn’t have these kind of dangerous dogs,” Ms Barnett said.
“I hope something will be done about this.”