‘Unimaginable loss’: investigation into dog attacks that killed the child

Police are still investigating a dog attack that killed a four -year -old boy in Plenty Bay.

The boy, who was named online as Timothy Tu’uaki Rolleston-Bryan, was attacked on Friday near Katikati.

“A person was transported by Katikati Medical Center in critical condition, where unfortunately they died shortly after,” police said.

“Another person received moderate injuries and was transported to the hospital where he remains.”

Western Bay District Council General Alison Curtis said police called his animal service team to remove three dogs from the property after the attack.

“These dogs are now safely protected at Te Puke’s shelter,” said Curtis.

The owner signed the dogs to the custody of the board, he said.

“This is an absolute tragedy, and our thoughts are with the whānau who are now facing an unimaginable loss,” said Curtis.

This was echoed by the mayor of the Plenty James West Bay District Council, who said it was a tragic event and his heart came out to the boy’s family.

Meanwhile, Rollloston-Bryan’s family had posted on social media that they were broken and shocked by their death.

The post said the four -year -old “had a little mischief in his smile” and “a heart full of cuteness.”

The safe dog workplace said he was seeing reported dog incidents increasing: there was 29,233 reported to the ACC last year, an increase of 46 % since 2015.

But the founder and director of the safe dog workplace, Jo Clough, thought the actual number was much higher. Less than 20 % of dog bites were reported, she said.

Before the dog prevention week, she was encouraging people to think about dog safety, and said education was the key to reducing dog damage.

“We really need to start educating more children, more parents and more dog owners to try to stop these things.”

One of his tips was never to make young children alone with a dog.

Dog owners needed to ensure that their dogs were trained and socialized properly, she said.

Clough said he would also like to see a mandatory dog ​​bites report system to get a lighter image of how many dog ​​bite incidents there were.