Election candidate loses fingertip in dog attack through letterbox while canvassing

Danica Priest was canvassing in Bristol ahead of the 2 May local elections when the dog pounced as she tried to post her party’s literature through a door

Green Party council candidate Danica Priest in hospital after a dog bit off the end of her finger as she posted a leaflet through a letterbox (Danica Priest)

A Green Party council candidate had her fingertip bitten off by a dog as she posted a leaflet while on the campaign trail for the local elections.

Danica Priest was leafleting in Bristol ahead of the vote on 2 May when the canine pounced as she put her party’s literature through the letterbox. The owners of the dog later returned to find Ms Priest’s fingertip inside their home next to a bloodstained leaflet.

Recalling the harrowing incident in a post on X, she wrote: “Leafleting took a dark turn today unfortunately.

“I have sadly lost half of my finger and am in the hospital waiting to see if they can attach it again. Luckily I have the amazing @EllieFreemanBS3 with me who stopped everything and drove to be with me.”

Leafleting took a ‘dark turn’ when Priest had her fingertip bitten off by a dog (X/@DanicaPriest)

Ms Priest, the Green candidate for Filwood, told The Independent she had undergone successful reconstructive surgery on Saturday. She said she was now on the “road to recovery”, adding: “It wasn’t a difficult letterbox – I didn’t hear a dog behind the door.”

Ms Priest said she didn’t know what type of dog attacked her, but was later told by its owners that it was not a dangerous dog like an XL bully and had no history of aggressive behaviour. The dog’s owners were able to reach Ms Priest because she had left her contact details with their neighbours.

Colleagues sent their best wishes and urged dog owners to make their letterboxes safer.

“Send healing vibes to our Danica please, nastily injured in the line of campaigning duty,” Emma Edwards, leader of the Green Group of councillors in Bristol, wrote on X. “Also, all folk leafletting for local elections currently, the advice to use a spatula is not a joke, spatulas save fingers (I actually have a spatula missing a corner from a dog bite).”

Patrick McAllister, a Green Party councillor in Bristol,  also wished Ms Priest a speedy recovery and warned activists to take care while out leafletting.

“Hoping for a swift recovery for Danica; this is an awful injury and incredibly unlucky,” he wrote on X. “A good reminder to all campaigners to use an implement like a spatula or wooden spoon to post your leaflets. I had to retire my first spatula because a dog took a bite from it.”