An eight-year-old girl suffered horrific bite wounds to her face after a dog attacked her while she was playing outside her grandmother’s house.
Kayla Watson was in the front garden at her grandmother’s home in Abergavenny, south Wales, when a dog ran up and started barking at her.
Her mother, Jade O’Hara, said Kayla tried to ‘shoo’ the animal away – but instead it turned on her and ferociously clamped its jaws around her cheek.
Kayla was left covered in blood and screaming in terror as her shocked mother watched in horror before kicking the dog to get it away from her little one.
Ms O’Hara said: ‘It all happened so quickly and as a mum it was a nightmare, I was so scared.
‘My daughter loves all pets, but is particularly obsessed with dogs, so it wasn’t unusual for her to want to pet a dog, particularly as we have a really sweet baby of a dog at home that adores her.’
‘She was just playing outside, and I had just come outside for a cigarette, so I was watching her, and then I saw this black and white scruffy type dog just come out of nowhere and start barking incessantly at her.
‘When she went to shoo it away, it latched itself onto her cheek and wouldn’t let go. I immediately ran over to them and tried to get the dog off her. I eventually had to kick the dog to make it get off.’
‘It all happened so fast and I was so scared. We’ve never experienced anything like that with dogs before. I found Kayla on the floor, screaming, holding her cheek.
‘I originally thought it had got her eye or another part of her face, but when I managed to get Kayla to take her hand away, there was blood running all down her cheek and it was going everywhere. There was even a tooth mark of about half a centimetre.’
Kayla was taken to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny for treatment.
Ms O’Hara said: ‘Kayla is still in a lot of discomfort and is now on a course of antibiotics. We’ve been told to go back if the swelling or redness gets worse or doesn’t go down.
‘You just think what if? What if it had happened to someone smaller than Kayla, or what if I hadn’t been outside at the time? I dread to think what could have happened. It’s just so scary as a mum.’
Ms O’Hara has been trying to track down the dog’s owner so it can be reported to police – but fears it may be a stray.
She said: ‘I wanted to find it so we could report it to the police. It’s just horrible always having these what ifs when something like this happens, and I laid awake at night worried about Kayla and what could have happened.
‘Kayla loves dogs and is always so aware of asking owners to touch, so having this happen to her is just awful.
‘I keep thinking why was this dog around here, why did it come onto our property, why did it go for my daughter? What if it had been a younger or smaller child?
‘We’ve both been left really traumatised and terrified over this. I want to raise community awareness of the dog because we have no idea where it is now and don’t want this to happen to anyone else.’
A spokesperson for Gwent Police said: ‘We received a report of a dog attack at around 3.20pm on Saturday 26 July.
‘It was reported that a medium sized black dog – potentially a stray or lost – bit an eight-year-old girl in Queens Square, Tredegar between 1.30pm and 1.45pm that day.
‘The girl was taken to hospital for treatment. Enquiries are ongoing to identify the owner of the dog and anyone with information is asked to contact us quoting log reference 2500238460.’