Man savaged to death by his own rottweiler
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A man has died after being mauled by his pet rottweiler. He died at the Royal London Hospital in east London at about 10pm on Sunday after being attacked by the dog at about 7.15am the same day.
The man, believed to be in his 70s, was taking the dog for its morning walk when he fell in the street. At first, the dog licked and pawed its owner, according to reports. But then, after becoming agitated, the dog turned on his owner, tearing chunks of flesh from his face.
Passers-by attempted to help by banging sticks on the ground and drivers honked their horns but the dog was undeterred until a police officer sprayed the animal with a fire extinguisher. Armed police were called to the scene in New City Road, Newham, and the dog was killed.
A witness, 32-year-old Aziz Rahman, a banker with HSBC, described the scene: "The man collapsed or fainted and at first the dog was trying to wake him up. Initially, it waslicking him and putting its paws on him but it became distressed when he did not get up and started to bite him.
"It was horrendous. His face was unrecognisable. The dog chewed off his ears, bit off his nose and also some of his fingers ... People were trying to scare it off by banging sticks on the ground but it took absolutely no notice and just carried on biting the poor man."
Bhupendra Karia, 30, a delivery driver who has lived next door to the victim for 20 years, said that the owner had looked after the dog since it was a puppy. "He has owned it for about 10 years and I've never known it to be vicious towards him or anyone else before."
The Government has come under renewed pressure to ban the ownership of rottweilers in the face of a recent series of attacks.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments