Yahoo Finance Family traumatised after pet dog killed in south London attack
A family has been left traumatised after their 15-year-old Jack Russell was killed by dogs in south London.
Author Sonia Faleiro said her family were having a picnic in Norwood Park earlier this month when they were attacked by three dogs she believed were pit bull terriers. She said her blind Jack Russell, Zoey, died in the attack, her husband was injured and her daughter left “distraught”.
“We frequent this park regularly and on June 7 we thought let’s have a picnic,” she told the Standard.
“We walked to the park, sat under the tree, got out our snacks and just enjoyed the weather like any other Londoner on a sunny day.
“From the corner of my eye, I saw three adults with several children coming in with their immensely large dogs. As soon as they entered the park the adults let go of the dogs and the dogs came racing towards us.”
Ms Faleiro said the dogs came at them with “such force” that she immediately told her husband, Ulrik, to pick up their dog.
“These dogs were so strong they were able to pull her out from my husband’s arms,” she said.
“My husband screamed for the owners to call their dogs back and come and help - I said the same thing - but they stood and watched as my husband fought the three dogs.”
Ms Faleiro’s husband was able to get a hold of Zoey - at which point she was severely injured.
“Her ear was hanging just by a thread and she was covered in blood,” she said.
“After my husband rescued Zoey, a man came running forward to leash his dogs and started to run away from the park. He did not apologise. He didn’t render assistance,” she recalled.
“As my husband said to them, “What’s your name?’’, he turned to my husband and said, “don’t you dare, I will kill you”.
The ordeal left the family of three in shock. Ms Faleiro ‘s husband rushed to the vet with their injured dog, while she grabbed her four-year-old daughter and followed the culprits.
“I had 999 on the phone and followed them for two blocks but I lost them.
“A few minutes later, a police car showed up and said they wanted pictures of Zoey’s injuries so they asked my daughter and me to get in and we went to the vet.”
She said the police took pictures and statements at the vet and the family returned home with their wounded dog.
“The vet advised us to take Zoey to the emergency room for overnight observation. So we went home, petted Zoey, gave her treats and settled her into the car with my husband expecting to see her the next morning.”
Unfortunately, the beloved pet died from blood loss and shock.
“I immediately alerted the community to what took place, putting out messages on Facebook that these dogs attacked Zoey and warning others and we received hundreds of comments,” she said.
Ms Faleiro said she and her daughter have been receiving treatment for severe trauma as a result of the incident.
“She’s known Zoey since she was a baby.”
Ms Faleiro has also started a petition in a bid to protect the community from similar dog attacks.
The petition calls for the incident and any others to be investigated and for the owners to face “the full penalty under the law including being banned from owning dogs in the future”.
A Met spokesperson told the Standard: “Police were called at 17:33hrs on Monday, 7 June to Norwood Park SE27 after a woman reported that her dog had been attacked by two other dogs.
“The dogs were then allegedly placed on leads by a man who left the scene with a woman and two children.
“The woman’s dog later died.
“There have been no arrests at this time. Enquiries continue.”
The Standard has approached Dulwich and West Norwood MP Helen Hayes for comment.
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