Warning: This article contains graphic images
A 77-year-old woman has told how she screamed in pain while being mauled by an XL bully dog days before Christmas.
Isobel Boyd’s arm was shredded and her knee fractured when she was attacked in Tullibody, near Alloa in Clackmannanshire, at around 9am on December 20.
Ms Boyd spent 11 days in hospital where she had two operations including a skin graft.
The pensioner still gets flashbacks from the incident which happened when she was walking home from her daughter’s house.
“I had to let it keep my arm because if it got to my throat I’d be a goner…”
Isobel Boyd, survived XL bully attack
“I was walking down the street when I saw a young lad walking up with a dog and I thought I’ll walk to the edge of the curb to let him pass,” she told STV News.
“As he was walking past, I felt a slight sniff at my left side and the next minute it grabbed my arm and burled me right around.
“There was a wall at a house and I managed to hold onto it but the dog wouldn’t let go.
“I started to scream and I couldn’t hold it any longer. It pulled me and got me down and it shook me. It got me half on the pavement and half on the road.”
A bystander came running to Ms Boyd’s aid and began hitting the dog with a skateboard.
Then a car stopped and a man got out and also began hitting the animal.
“The next minute neighbours from up the street came round and they were pulling at me and I kept screaming, ‘my arm my arm’,” Ms Boyd said.
STV NewsMs Boyd remembers the attack vividly.
“It was like a horror,” she said. “I had to let it keep my arm because if it got to my throat I’d be a goner… I don’t think I’m over the shock of it.
“It feels like it wasn’t me. Sometimes it feels like a dream.”
Despite the attack, Ms Boyd remains a committed animal lover and still has dogs of her own.
She said she isn’t “100% sure” if an XL bully ban in Scotland is the right decision – something the Scottish Government is poised to implement after a prohibition was imposed in England and Wales.
“Something has to be done because we don’t want what I’ve been through to happen to anyone else,” she said.
“I hope Parliament can decide on the right thing to do with the dogs. I know a lot of people have them and they love them. I couldn’t be without a dog in my life. We all love our dogs.”
Police Scotland said the dog which attacked Ms Boyd was euthanised. A 46-year-old woman was reported to the Procurator Fiscal in connection with the incident.
STV News‘Banning breed won’t tackle the issue’
The UK Government decided months ago to ban XL bully dogs in England and Wales from the start of February.
No such plans were announced by the Scottish Government but pressure to implement one has grown following reports of people rehoming their dogs in Scotland ahead of the change in law south of the border.
Media reports suggest Scottish ministers could be aiming to match the date of the English ban with one announced in the coming weeks.
Kerryanne Shaw, of All Bullie Charity Rescue, said she would be “devastated and disappointed” if the Scottish Government replicated Westminster’s ban.
“I do get the concerns of the number of dogs that are being brought up but I will stress that the Scottish Government had previously stated that any plans to introduce the ban would be based on factual evidence and research,” she said.
“There haven’t been any attacks despite their allegedly being hundreds or thousands of dogs brought to the country.”
She said XL bully owners are devastated by the decision which could see dogs being put down when owners are unable to get an exemption.
“If a rescue doesn’t have its own kennels or homes they can place dogs into, then those dogs can’t be legally taken through exemption, so they can’t be euthanised,” she said.
“We will see mass dumping in Scotland if this goes through as we’ve seen in England and Wales and we won’t be able to do anything about it.”
She said the larger issue was irresponsible breeders and owners and described a ban as a “sticking plaster”.
“Banning certain breeds won’t tackle the issue,” she said.
Prior to the announcement of a Scottish ban, Ms Shaw had raised £20,000 to open up an XL bully sanctuary.
But she said those plans have “fallen to the wayside due to the amount of harassment and vitriol” she has received.
She added: “We are still working towards it but we are not feeling positive regarding setting up the rescue centre due to the amount of trolling.
“If we don’t open the centre our goal will be to help the disadvantaged families that want to keep their dogs but can’t afford the exemption process or the neutering of those dogs.”
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