Boy, 5, had ‘half his scalp ripped off’ by ‘XL Bully’
The mother of a five-year-old boy savaged by an XL Bully has revealed the youngster had ‘half his scalp ripped off’ during the horrific attack.
The terrifying incident happened in a run down house which locals claim is a well known drugs den in Hull, East Yorkshire, on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon.
CCTV from the neighbouring house shows the mother and her child entering the property with another man, who is claimed to be a local drug dealer. Seconds later blood curdling screams can be heard off camera coming from the house.
The mother is then heard pleading for an ambulance as she emerges wailing in the street with her child in her arms before a stranger offers to ferry the boy to hospital.
He is now receiving treatment after the savage attack which left him with ‘half his scalp ripped off’, while friends of his family say he is lucky to be alive thanks to three men who wrestled the dog off him.sh
It comes as another boy, 15, was savaged by an XL Bully in Caerphilly, South Wales, yesterday – just a few miles from two previous fatal XL Bully attacks in the town.
Footage from after the attack in Hull shows the moment police arrived at the property to collect the out of control dog as the owner, dressed in a black top and grey trousers pleads with the officers to let her put a muzzle on the animal instead.
This is the moment a young boy and his mother are seen entering a house in Hull, with another man who is claimed to be a local drug dealer, before a horrific XL Bully attack
The mother is later heard pleading for an ambulance as she emerges from the house wailing in the street with her child in her arms
The woman is then seen talking to a passing motorist, with no connection to the mother, who offers to take the child straight to hospital
In the footage, the mother and son are seen to arrive at the property walking side by side with another man. Almost immediately after they go inside screaming can be heard coming from the house.
The woman is heard sobbing: ‘Now. Now. Ring an ambulance. Now. Now!’, while her child can be heard saying: ‘I don’t like it mummy.’
The woman comes back outside with her child in her arms as a passing motorist, with no connection to the mother, can be seen talking to someone on the phone.
The mother tells the motorist she does not want to wait around for an ambulance to arrive and they agree to take the child straight to hospital.
Hours later half a dozen police vans were seen arriving at the property at 11.57am, which was cordoned off for a painstaking forensic examination.
Footage from later in the afternoon show cops arriving to collect the dog and before remaining on the scene for nearly four hours.
The owner can be seen on the footage pleading with the officers: ‘You are hurting him. Let me put the muzzle on him.’
She tells them: ‘It is a good dog. I am telling you. I can save him.’
Footage from later in the afternoon show cops arriving to collect the dog and before remaining on the scene for nearly four hours. The owner can be seen here dressed in a black top pleading with the officers: ‘You are hurting him. Let me put the muzzle on him.’
The dog can also later be seen on CCTV being led outside the house with a restraint around its neck. Police officers armed with riot shields are also seen surrounding the animal
Police keep watch on the property in Hull where a five-year-old boy was mauled by an XL Bully dog on Monday
The mother of the boy, who can not be named for legal reasons, told friends that her ‘brave soldier’ son will ‘be scarred for life’ following the horrific attack.
She told friends: ‘He is doing fine. He has been so brave. However, he has had half his scalp ripped off and will be scarred for life.
‘I cannot believe how good he has been. But he is a little soldier bless him.’
A friend of the family also told MailOnline today that the young lad is lucky to be alive. The woman said the boy is believed to be out of danger but ‘would not be here now’ if three men had not managed to pull the dog off.
The friend, who asked not be named, said: ‘Everyone is shocked. She followed her son in to the house where he was mauled straight away within seconds.
‘It took three guys to get the dog off him. If those three guys were not there I don’t think the bairn would still be here.
‘He is all right. He has had surgery. But his skull is damaged and he will need more treatment.
‘She has not been back since. She is keeping a bedside vigil. Word spreads fast in this street.
‘I don’t know what she was doing at the house. There are a lot of problems with drugs down here but ahe will not have anything to do with drugs.
‘The dog had come from a good family home only two days previously.’
The boy suffered head injuries, and is currently in hospital receiving treatment after the attack
A woman who witnessed the attack said: ‘I was in the house. The children were playing. My eldest went upstairs for something and said something is kicking off outside.
‘I went upstairs to look out the window. I will never, ever get that image out of my head. I wish I knew who the mother is so I could ask how the bairn is doing.’
Her husband was in the shower when his wife raised the alarm. He said: ‘They were just visiting next door. I think it happened as soon as they walked into the living room.
‘Then we heard the screaming. The kid was completely scalped.
‘We could see how terrible the injury was. Then the car pulled up. It was lucky he was passing by. The wife came to me in the shower. She was shaking badly.
‘The woman who owned the dog she does not live there either.
‘The guy who took him to hospital came back for the scalp because the hospital only had so much time before the cells would start to die.
‘It was an XL Bully, The girl who owned it said she had all the paperwork for it.
‘She said she had a little girl itself and it had never behaved in this way before.’
There was no reply from the house where the attack happened although people had earlier been seen inside the property.
Locals did not know who lived there – except it was a man and a woman who was said to be the male occupants cousin. One said: ‘They are nothing but trouble.’
The girl who owned the dog was said to be the female occupant’s daughter.
Following the horrific attack, Humberside Police’s DCI Allison Sweeting said: ‘We are working closely with the boy’s family and the owner of the dog to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.
‘At this stage, the breed of dog is believed to be an XL bully type and it has been seized as part of our enquiries.’
It comes as a 15-year-old boy was attacked by an XL Bully in Caerphilly, South Wales, yesterday.
Armed police were called after officers confirmed the dog was an XL Bully after the boy was hospitalised in the attack.
The dog was put down by vets after the boy was taken to hospital after being attacked by the dog in Caerphilly, South Wales.
The attack on Tuesday happened just a few miles from two previous fatal XL Bully attacks in Caerphilly which helped spark a change in the ownership laws.
Schoolboy Jack Lis, ten, and grandmother Shirley Patrick, 83, were both killed a year apart in the town feared to be a hot spot for dangerous dog breeders.
Angeline Mahal, 50, was attacked at her home in Hornchurch, East London, by the dogs
The incident with the five-year-old boy comes soon after the first fatal attack since the breed was banned in February.
Angeline Mahal died earlier this month at her home in Hornchurch, East London after being mauled by her two registered XL Bullys.
The two registered dogs were seized by police – some bearing riot shields – after being contained in a room.
One relative, who did not wish to be named, said they ‘used to always urge her to give up the dogs’.
They added: ‘It was more because the dogs were a bit of a tether, they took up a lot of her time with feeding and walking. It limited her freedom.
‘But there’s something I want to make clear and it’s that anyone who has XL Bully-type dog needs to do the right thing if they spot their pets becoming aggressive and give them up.
‘I know it’s hard because people have such an attachment – but we wouldn’t want any other family to go through this.
‘She was a sincere person with such a kind heart.’
The relative added: ‘Angeline always kept dogs, she had done for years. Her two most recent dogs were XL bullies.
‘She’d had them since they were puppies and had cages for them. They were properly registered.
‘We don’t know the full details yet but I think only one of them attacked her. Her two sons found her in the hallway.
‘They tried to give her CPR but she had already gone. The police and paramedics turned up a little while later.’
The Government brought in the ban on the muscular canines after they were blamed for maulings which led to at least 11 deaths since 2021. Those killed ranged from 17 months to 84 years of age.
