{"id":16829,"date":"2026-03-04T03:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16829"},"modified":"2026-03-04T03:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:53:13","slug":"dog-not-euthanised-after-biting-off-part-of-young-girls-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16829","title":{"rendered":"Dog not euthanised after biting off part of young girl&#8217;s face"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"photo-captioned photo-captioned-full photo-cntr eight_col \">\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\"><span class=\"caption\">he child was injured by a dog which belonged to a family member who came to stay at their Waikato home.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Photo:\u00a0RNZ\/Supplied<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>A woman whose young daughter had part of her face bitten off by an aggressive dog can not understand why the animal has not been euthanised, a month after the attack.<\/p>\n<p>The dog belongs to a family member who came to stay at their Waikato home.<\/p>\n<p>They were aware it had previously bitten an adult and had been impounded.<\/p>\n<p>At that time, animal control seized the dog and it had since been required to meet a set of regulations, including wearing a muzzle.<\/p>\n<p>However, the family was unaware it had also previously attacked a child.<\/p>\n<div class=\"block-item\">\n<div class=\"c-play-controller u-blocklink\" data-uuid=\"6133ded4-d581-487f-a3e6-60e35f912b8d\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"h-screen max-h-[calc(10rem*var(--base-multiplier))] min-h-[calc(6rem*var(--base-multiplier))]\">\n<article class=\"@container\/queue-media relative w-full h-full bg-surface-muted\">\n<div class=\"flex h-full\">\n<div class=\"@[16.25em]\/queue-media:block bg-theme-primary relative hidden aspect-square h-full flex-none overflow-hidden\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"absolute h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--G_iieSFu--\/c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,h_100,q_auto,w_100\/v1671591260\/4LGF99X_checkpoint_internal_cover_png?_a=BACCd2AD\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" aria-hidden=\"true\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"@container\/queue-media-content h-full w-full\">\n<div class=\"flex h-full w-full flex-grow flex-col justify-between overflow-hidden p-8\">\n<div class=\"text-foreground-primary flex flex-col gap-4 light-theme\">\n<h3 class=\"order-2 mb-4 line-clamp-2 text-sm\"><span class=\"block\">Dog that attacked multiple children not euthanised<\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"order-1 flex items-baseline gap-8 text-xs leading-snug\"><span class=\"font-sans-semibold line-clamp-1\">Checkpoint<\/span><span class=\"whitespace-nowrap tabular-nums text-xs\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-03\">3 March 2026<\/time><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center justify-between gap-4\">\n<div class=\"@[6.5em]\/queue-media-content:gap-8 flex flex-grow items-center gap-4\"><button class=\"group\/button font-sans-semibold flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-center gap-8 whitespace-nowrap rounded-full border leading-normal flex h-24 w-24 [&amp;&gt;svg]:h-[calc(1.8rem*var(--base-multiplier))] [&amp;&gt;svg]:w-[calc(1.8rem*var(--base-multiplier))] hover:bg-surface-hover hover:text-white dark-theme bg-surface-accent text-foreground-primary border-transparent\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Play Dog that attacked multiple children not euthanised\"><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"@container\/queue-add-button inline-flex w-full\"><button class=\"group\/button font-sans-semibold flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-center gap-8 whitespace-nowrap rounded-full border leading-normal flex gap-[calc(0.5rem*var(--base-multiplier))] px-8 pb-[calc(0.25rem*var(--base-multiplier))] pt-[calc(0.15rem*var(--base-multiplier))] text-sm hover:bg-surface-hover hover:text-white light-theme border-stroke-strong text-foreground-primary bg-transparent hover:border-surface-hover @[4.38em]\/queue-add-button:flex hidden\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Queue Dog that attacked multiple children not euthanised\"><span class=\"inline-flex items-center gap-[calc(0.3rem*var(--base-multiplier))]\"><span class=\"font-sans-normal\">Queue<\/span><\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"sr-only\" aria-live=\"polite\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ml-auto flex h-full items-center gap-4\">\n<div class=\"relative -top-4 right-2 h-24 w-24\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Georjeana Tupawa&#8217;s daughter was five when she was attacked, after the dog&#8217;s owner took her into the garage where the dog was living.<\/p>\n<p>It was not wearing a muzzle at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The dog was seized by animal control after the attack, but the owner will not give permission for it to be destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>Tupawa told\u00a0<i>Checkpoint\u00a0<\/i>the attack has left her daughter traumatised.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My daughter was bitten in the face and it wasn&#8217;t just a puncture wound. The dog actually ripped her upper cheek completely off. So she is now scarred from about halfway up her lip beside her nose, straight up under her eye.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo-captioned photo-captioned-full photo-cntr eight_col \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--499et79z--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1772498904\/4JSCGFF_Dog_attack_1_blurred_jpg?_a=BACCd2AD\" alt=\"Dog attack - child victim blurred - 3 March 2026\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\"><span class=\"credit\">Photo:\u00a0RNZ\/Supplied<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tupawa&#8217;s daughter was in hospital for several days after going through emergency microsurgery.<\/p>\n<p>While her face is heavily scarred, the surgery was much more successful than it could have been.<\/p>\n<p>But it is trauma that Tupawa&#8217;s daughter was now dealing with.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She was having nightmares. I obviously stayed up at the hospital with her. It was really hard. I didn&#8217;t sleep because I was watching her. She was waking up multiple times. Kept asking, why did this happen?&#8217;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More than a month on from the attack, the dog is still alive in the pound.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s inhumane, I think that it would be a real risk to allow this dog out, I think that everyone deserves a second chance and the dog was given that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tupawa said if the restrictions put on the dog after the first two attacks were followed, she believed the attack on her daughter could have been avoided.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not the dog&#8217;s fault that the restrictions that were put in place were not followed and that this ultimately happened. I feel that it was a ticking time bomb. And I think that it just shouldn&#8217;t have happened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo-captioned photo-captioned-full photo-cntr eight_col \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--JWw0pdeY--\/ar_16:10,c_fill,f_auto,g_auto,q_auto,w_1050\/v1772498903\/4JSCGFF_dog_attack_3_blurred_jpg?_a=BACCd2AD\" alt=\"Dog attack - child victim blurred - 3 March 2026\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1866\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\"><span class=\"credit\">Photo:\u00a0RNZ\/Supplied<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The dog&#8217;s owner has refused permission for it to be destroyed, which means the case now needs to be presented in front of a judge.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ve told us that this could take weeks, months, potentially even years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That says to me that this animal is being kept and I guess kind of like on death row in a way, or that the dog is going to be released and we&#8217;re going to wait for it to be fatal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Given the evidence it had of the attack, Tupawa said the council should have the power to destroy the dog.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that the photos that we have, you know, post-op, pre-op, before they managed to do what they did. I think that those photos without any backstory should be an open and close case.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tupawa said there needed to be changes to the current dog laws.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why should this dog have to wait for it to go in front of a judge? This is an open-and-shut case.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You look at the photo, you look at my daughter now, you look at the scar that is on her face &#8211; it&#8217;s not on her foot, it&#8217;s not on her arm, it&#8217;s on her face. How do you deal with that? How do you move on from that?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Waip\u0101 District Council told\u00a0<i>Checkpoint\u00a0<\/i>it has issued a notice to the dog owner saying they intended to hold the dog until the conclusion of a prosecution against them.<\/p>\n<p>The council is seeking the destruction of the dog and will keep communication lines open with the child&#8217;s family as the process progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>he child was injured by a dog which belonged to a family member who came to stay at their Waikato home.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0RNZ\/Supplied A woman whose young daughter had part of her face bitten off by an aggressive dog can not understand why the animal has not been euthanised, a month after the attack. The dog belongs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16831,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16829\/revisions\/16831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}