A three-year-old boy is in a critical condition after he was mauled by a Rottweiler on the grounds of a school in Belhar.
Lincoln Nimmurhoutd had both ears nearly bitten off and suffered serious face and head wounds after he was attacked by the dog in front of shocked family members.
The attack happened on Sunday morning at Perseverance Secondary School, said police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk on Monday.
Lincoln’s aunt Janice Lopes, 19, said she “didn’t know what to do” when the dog got hold of the boy.
“One moment the dog was running towards us and the next he had Lincoln in his mouth. I just stood there and screamed.”
The Rottweiler was put down on Sunday by the SPCA and police are investigating the attack.
The dog, which belongs to the security company hired by the school, attacked the child after it had been left unattended by its handler, according to the Cape of Good Hope SPCA.
Inspectorate manager Moyo Ndukwana said the incident was worrying.
“We will be calling for an urgent review of service providers that use dogs for security purposes at schools to ensure businesses have their respective Performing Animals Protection Act Licences,” said Ndukwana.
“Guard dogs need special care and training. Their handlers should receive training on how to manage them to avoid incidents such as these.
“We are appealing to the education department to help us ensure this industry is in compliance with the relevant laws, and regulated in the proper legal framework.”
The SPCA said that under the act, no person shall use any dog for safeguarding unless they have a licence.
The Western Cape Department of Education’s Bronagh Casey responded: “We have measures in place to ensure dogs are properly trained when used for security – which is required when there is a high incidence of gangsterism, for example.
“We investigated who hired the security company, and have established that the company was hired by the school independently.”
Because the company had not been hired directly by the department it could not immediately ascertain whether the animal had been licensed.
The department had, however, established where the attack had occurred.
“The school has an inner and an outer perimeter fence. The dog dug beneath the inner fence, and was between the two fences. The community uses the property as a thoroughfare, so the attack was on school property,” said Casey.
Red Cross Children’s Hospital spokeswoman Vaughanine Johnson said on Tuesday: “The child is in ICU, sedated and ventilated, and is going in for an operation today to fix his nose and mandibles.
“His last operation was on Sunday afternoon, which involved a debridement (removal of dead, damaged or infected tissue) of the wound and wash-out, and suturing of his facial wounds.”
Lopes said she and Lincoln’s stepfather Uzent Likcs, 35, were walking past the school on Sunday at about 8am.
“We saw the dog running towards us from the school yard. We stood still... not wanting to give it a reason to come after us.
“It jumped on Lincoln’s neck – it looked so aggressive.
“I just stood there and screamed.
“The dog was just tearing at him the whole time while he was lying on the ground and screaming. We were trying to pick him up but the dog just held on and kept biting.”
A distraught Likcs said he threw himself in front of the dog to distract it from Lincoln.
“But there was nothing I could do. I feel responsible.”
His mother, Cerenice Nimmurhoutd, 28, said doctors told her Lincoln would need more than one reconstruction operation because his jaw was broken and both ears almost bitten off.
“It’s very bad, he has deep scars all over his face, head and neck.”
l In January a two-year-old girl had to have surgery after being mauled by a Rottweiler at Clifton. – Additional reporting by Murray Williams
- Cape Argus/IOL
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