Woman mauled by dogs in her own backyard thought she was going to die
A woman mauled by two dogs in her own backyard feared she was going to die, while the owner of the animals allegedly stood back and did nothing.
Ashley Harraghy is lucky to be alive after two savage dogs entered her backyard.
She needed 60 stitches and surgery after they mauled her, and she wants the dogs put down before they attack again.
Traumatised and covered in horrific bite injuries, the Melbourne woman said she tried to run away.
“They just pulled me down, I couldn’t move,” she said. “They ripped all my clothes off.”
The 20-year-old said at first the dogs seemed friendly, but then they attacked, mauling and biting her from head to toe.
“The staffy that was biting my arm, it didn’t let go, it was just kind of playing tug-of-war with my arm,” she said.
In total, she received 30 bites.
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It’s believed the dogs are owned by a neighbour who witnessed the attack.
Ashley said if her fiancee had not come to her rescue, she “would’ve died.”
“If that had have been a little child, that child wouldn’t be here now,” Ashley’s grandmother Iris said.
Casey Council has seized the animals, which are being held at the Lost Dogs Home.
An investigation is underway, but it will ultimately be up to a magistrate to decide if the dogs are destroyed.
“At the end of the day, if they were to attack a child, I wouldn’t want that, so maybe it’s for the best,” Ashley said.
The child care worker is receiving trauma counselling after the incident and has lost feeling in her arm.
