Joanna Harris: Woman who lost arm in American bulldog attack sues RSPCA for $250K over rescue dog's violent past
SUSSEX, UK: A woman who lost her arm in a dog attack is taking legal action against the RSPCA. Joanna Harris had her arm ripped off during the incident with her rescue dog, an American bulldog named Kiwi, and the police had to use tasers and truncheons to force the dog to let go.
The woman, who is from Crowborough, East Sussex, alleges that the RSPCA did not inform her that the dog had attacked two other women just eight months prior to the attack on her. The dog was subsequently put down and Harris is suing the RSPCA for £200,000 (almost $250,000), reported The Sun.
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Kiwi also tried to bite into Joanna's neck
In September 2021, when Kiwi the dog wouldn't release its grip on Joanna's arm, she went into her garden and requested her neighbor to call 999. It took 20 minutes for the police to arrive at her house, during which Kiwi attempted to bite Joanna's neck as well. Joanna had been temporarily fostering the American bulldog with the intention of formally adopting it.
She said, "The pain was excruciating. I knew I was in a bad way but nothing prepared me for the news my arm would have to be amputated." The RSPCA has refuted any responsibility for the incident, and Joanna's case will be heard at the High Court in London.
Connecticut woman had her nose chewed off by a pit bull mix rescue dog
In another horrifying incident reported by MEAWW, an artist from Connecticut had her nose chewed off by her boyfriend's pit bull mix rescue dog after the animal was startled by her teeth-whitening tool. Olivia Quast, 30, of Thomaston, Connecticut, had terrible injuries to her face and arm as a result of an encounter with her boyfriend's six-year-old dog, named Bentley, whom he had owned for four years. As Quast touched her face, she was startled to discover that her nose "wasn't there."
Quast hypothesized that Bentley, who had suffered abuse as a puppy, may have been startled and frightened by her UV-lit teeth-whitening mouthpiece. She said the dog’s eyes "changed" and described the animal as "dissociated." "He lunged, and he got my nose first, I was in shock and disbelief," the woman recalled. "I just stared at him. It never dawned on me that he was going to keep attacking me, because why would he? I put my hand on my nose and he lunged at my arm twice more." "It wasn’t a nip. He got me three times. He took my nose. I was in shock ... I punched him in the head and he bit me again ... He came at me again. I kicked him in the side and he ran away," Quast told The Middletown Press.
