Young Boy Viciously Mauled by ‘Designer’ Tibetan Mastiff Dog in China

According to South China Morning Post, the large canine managed to slip from its leash and dragged the boy down before it proceeded maul him. He received major injuries that required more than a dozen of stitches when he was brought in to the People’s Hospital of Luojiang.

The boy, whose name was not revealed in the report, was given a rabies vaccine as well as received 38 stitches mainly to his head and face. Doctors also said that he lost a piece of his scalp in the back part of his head.

While his physical injuries are pretty serious, the mental implication of the attack was even more severe. According to her mother, He Xianli, the boy now has nightmares at night and cries in his sleep.

“What I am most worried about is whether he will have PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder],” she told Chinese media.

Meanwhile, the dog’s owner has yet to release any kind of compensation for the damages his dog did to the boy and his family. He said that he would wait for the police investigation to conclude before he could agree to some sort of agreement, Chengdu Economic Daily reported on Wednesday via SCMP.

It was not indicated there, however, if the owner will face other additional charges for what happened, considering that mainland China has a strict law relating to dog breeds that are ferocious, which includes Tibetan Mastiffs. It is said that the owners will be held responsible in case their dog attacks a person. Unfortunately, the law did not go into specific details regarding the punishment.

The hospital bill, which was not revealed in the report, was paid using the money the boy’s family borrowed from friends.

In other parts of the world, Tibetan Mastiffs are considered a very expensive dog breed; some parts of rural China, however, beg to differ. It was reported in September that hundreds of abandoned Tibetan Mastiffs are roaming in packs in numerous villages in Qinghai Province and that they are attacking people.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons / Yeti