Pitbull victim scarred for life says mother

A 5-year-old boy savaged by a pitbull at the weekend will be scarred for life, says his mother.

Speaking after a gruelling day at Hutt Hospital's plastic surgery unit, Robyn Leach said her son Harrison had extensive wounds to his face and psychological scars that would probably never heal.

"There's no major damage. He hasn't lost an eye. He'll be badly scarred, but I'm just thankful his eyes are fine."

Mrs Leach said Harrison, who attends Konini School in Wainuiomata, refused to talk about the attack in Levin on Saturday.

"He's all right, but he won't talk about it at all. I think, hopefully, in time he will, but the psychological scars will be worse."

Mrs Leach, of Wainuiomata, was visiting relatives when Harrison was attacked by one of their four pitbulls.

"My son was patting him and he was standing next to him, so we didn't think there was a threat. It was their family pet.

"People think it must have been a fighting dog or my son must have provoked it, but [the attack] was totally unprovoked. The dog was chained up, and the little boy who lives there ran across the driveway to the fence and said, 'Come here, Harrison, look at this', and my son ran after him."

Mrs Leach thinks the dog may have thought her son was a threat to the other boy.

"It was a protective instinct. He turned on my little boy. My son wasn't playing with the dog, he was completely oblivious [of it] ... I think the dog caught him on his way."

A doctor told Mrs Leach that if Harrison's injuries had been a millimetre closer to his eye, they could have been more serious.

The attack - the second serious incident the dog had been involved in - has devastated Mrs Leach's aunt.

"The relatives are devastated. They have four pitbulls, and they are getting rid of all of their dogs. They feel really bad."

Mrs Leach said she wanted people to learn from the attack.

"You have to be careful of dogs that are protective of their owners. They don't distinguish between an intruder [and] a little 5-year-old boy, and people need to be aware of that.

"People need to be aware that having pitbulls as pets is a very dangerous thing."

- NZPA