AN INTERNATIONAL visitor has been left traumatised after an unleashed Wattle Range Council-registered dog attacked him and mauled his hand last week.
What should be a relaxing Australian holiday has resulted in retiree Sher Singh needing medical treatment and in a permanent state of shock, with the 64-year-old concerned about potential disease as a result of the bite.
Around 10.30am on February 7, Mr Singh was walking along Jubilee Highway to deliver lunch to a family member.
He claimed to see a car parked in the driveway of a Mallee Street residence before seeing a car door open, with “one enormous, dangerous-looking huge dog” jumping out of the vehicle.
“At first sight it appeared like a big wild animal,” Mr Singh said.
In the blink of an eye, the dog attacked him.
Mr Singh said he managed to fight the dog off two times, using the bag of food he was carrying as a natural fight and flight response, but was bitten on the hand the third time.
Family member Rajeev Gupta said blood was gushing from Mr Singh’s hand when he returned to his premises.
Mr Gupta first took Mr Singh to the Mount Gambier Hospital before presenting at a private clinic.
Medical staff dressed the wound, but Mr Gupta said the incident had dramatically affected his family member’s mental health.
“The incident caused him the distress which is not allowing him to overcome from this horrific incident,” he said.
“He was shaking after the attack and is still in a lot of shock.
“Since the attack, if a dog barks at him he tenses up.
“He also has pain in his entire body.
“Sher is 64 years old and has never been on medication in his life, but now he is taking tablets because of the animal bite.”
Mr Gupta said the family were enraged with the dogs owners, who they claim “ran away” with the animal.
“The dog owner ran away from the site and when we asked the owner of the house who it was, they did not tell us,” he said.
“It was very irresponsible.”
In a letter to Mount Gambier City Council, the family called for a complete medical report of the dog to ensure the bite would not cause any disease or infection to Mr Singh in the future.
A council spokesperson said investigations into the incident are continuing.
