I was savaged by my neighbour’s ‘XL Pitbull’ and it tore a chunk from my arm… now I can’t even lift a cup of tea
A WOMAN had a “chunk of flesh” torn from her arm during a savage dog attack that left her hospitalised for a week.
Laura Walker, 39, was walking her miniature poodle Ted near her home in Epping in Essex when her neighbour’s XL Pitbull-type dog leapt out at them.
Horrifying footage captured on a neighbour’s CCTV showed the moment the “extra large Pitbull” dog ran out of its front door and lunged at the pair.
Laura has been left unable to use her arm, and can’t even pick up a cup of tea, after the attack as they passed along a narrow pavement at around 12pm on February 14.
The owner ran out of the house but “didn’t do anything”, according to Laura.
As Laura jumped forward to try to save her pooch, the dog plunged its teeth into her arm, ripping out a chunk of muscle.
She told The Sun Online: “The dog was bigger than me, it was huge. There was blood everywhere. I couldn’t believe it. It took 60 per cent of my muscle from my arm and I spent a week in hospital.
“There’s a big indent in my muscle.”
Ms Walker spent three weeks on antibiotics and “couldn’t do anything” because of the open wound.
She added: “I was in hospital every day for one of the weeks with the infection.
“I’ve regained movement but it was like I was weak. I’ve regained the grip of anything without weight but I can’t even pick up a mug of tea.”
Meanwhile, her poodle was left visibly “shaken” and suffered “massive scabs all down his side”.
Ms Walker said: “There was blood all over the back of the dog. I knew he’d been hurt. My mum-in-law came as the police took me to hospital. The ambulance was going to be two hours.
“She said he was fine but his fur is dense. It wasn’t until a week later that I checked and there was massive scabs all down his side. They weren’t inflamed or anything.”
The woman claimed that she has lived near the owner for two and a half years and this is the second dog taken by police under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
And she’s been left furious after her claim under the Criminal Compensation Scheme was denied because the dog wasn’t intentionally set on her.
A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We are investigating an incident where it was reported a woman was bitten by a dog and sustained possibly life-changing injuries.
“We were called to reports a woman in her 40s was bitten by a dog in the Blenheim Place area of North Weald at around 2.20pm on 14 February.
“She sustained serious injuries to her arm.
“A woman in her 30s has been voluntarily interviewed and our enquiries are ongoing.
“If you have any information, CCTV, dash cam or other footage in relation to this incident, then please get in contact with us.”