A one-year-old boy sustained moderate injuries and was taken to hospital after he was bitten by his family’s pet pitbull.
The incident took place at a private residence in the Hillary area on Monday morning at around 8am.
According to Cait Hageman, spokesperson for DRK Tactical, they received reports of a child that had been bitten by a dog.
“On arrival paramedics found that a one-year-old baby boy had been bitten by the family’s pet pitbull,” Hageman said.
“It is alleged that the pitbull had been kept separate from the family as it was known to bite, however, it got out of its closure when a household member opened the door by mistake.”
Hageman said the baby was assessed and found to have sustained a significant bite and was stabilised on scene by paramedics before being transported to a local hospital for further care.
“The family has contacted (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) SPCA for advice and will be deciding their next steps regarding the dog,” said Hageman.
There have been a number of dog attack incidents in recent weeks in Durban.
In one of them, a three-year-old boy was left critically injured after he was attacked by a pitbull in the Bluff area last week.
ALS Paramedics’ Garrith Jamieson said they responded to numerous calls of a pitbull attacking a child in Watsonia Road.
“ALS Paramedics arrived on the scene to find chaos as members of the public were trying to contain the dog. The patient’s mother carried the three-year-old little boy to our medics,” he said at the time.
“He had sustained multiple serious injuries as a result of the attack and was stabilised on scene by ALS Paramedics before he was rushed through to a nearby hospital for the urgent care that he required.”
And in the most recent attack in Durban, a general worker at a Durban school was rushed to hospital after being attacked by a pitbull.
Jamieson said a woman and child were walking towards the school when a pitbull ran out of a nearby house and attacked the child.
“The man, a worker from the school, shielded the child from the dog, thus possibly saving her life,” Jamieson said.
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