East Anglia: Dog Bite Victim's Warning As Stats Show 168 Attacks In Year
23 August 2013, 06:00
Almost 170 people were attacked by dogs in Norfolk and Suffolk in the last year according to figures exclusively shown to Heart.
The number includes 26 incidents involving children.
It's sparked one Norfolk victim to come forward to share her story, in the hope it'll warn others of the dangers of unpredictable animals.
Annie from Norfolk was walking to visit a friend last summer when it happened.
She said: "All I can remember, it seemed a bit of a blur, I felt a sharp pain in the my leg and I looked down and the dog had jumped at me and sunk its teeth into the top of my inner right thigh.
"I was in a bit of a daze, I saw the blood and I thought to myself 'Oh my God, that dog's bitten me'. And then the pain hit me, quite a sharp pain, like someone sticking a knife in you.
"I had to go to the police station, have photographs taken. He was made to go to court and pay a fine.
"The dog wasn't put down.
"I was really annoyed to be quite honest, to think this dog bit me and it was still able to bite someone else and nothing had been done about it.
"I was OK, a little bit shaken, but OK. My concern was if I'd had a child with me it could have been a lot worse."
The figures, obtained from a Freedom of Information request to Norfolk and Suffolk Police, show there was also 26 incidents involving dog attacks against other dogs.