{"id":202268,"date":"2025-09-05T12:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T12:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202268\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T12:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T12:18:13","slug":"police-praise-bystanders-for-helping-girl-injured-in-dog-attack-near-newcastle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202268\/","title":{"rendered":"Police praise bystanders for helping girl injured in dog attack near Newcastle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police have praised bystanders for helping save a 17-year-old girl attacked by a large, mixed-breed dog in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.<\/p>\n

Emergency services were called to a home on Broughton Street about 11:30am on Thursday, to reports of an unprovoked attack.<\/p>\n

They found the girl with critical injuries to her face, neck and back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She had been visiting a friend when the attack occurred.<\/p>\n

Bystanders who witnessed the attack pulled the 10-year-old dog off the girl before calling for help.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police said the dog was a mix of boxer, bull Arab and Irish wolfhound.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paramedics treated the teenager before she was flown to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital in a critical condition.<\/p>\n

She remained in intensive care on Friday, with her condition unchanged.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Singleton is a tight-knit rural community. Mayor Sue Moore says residents have been shocked by the attack. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Bystanders first on scene<\/p>\n

Acting Hunter Valley Local Area Police Commander Justin Cornes today praised bystanders for coming to the girl’s aid.<\/p>\n

“Passers-by were first on scene,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Certainly running into a scene which they didn’t know the full circumstances and to jump in there and remove the dog, which was at the time obviously very aggressive.<\/p>\n

“An incredible act given the circumstances.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Justin Cornes and paramedic Josh Parfrey have praised bystanders for saving the girl. (ABC Newcastle: Keely Johnson)<\/p>\n

NSW Ambulance intensive care paramedic Josh Parfrey said the actions of the bystanders were critical in what was a confronting incident.<\/p>\n

“They provided basic first-aid … before the ambulance arrived, trying to stem some bleeding and keep the wounds covered,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Cornes said police used a firearm to euthanise the dog, with permission from the owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Police … used a service weapon to euthanise the dog to allow emergency services to continue that treatment,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Speaking to the owners, [they said] that the dog’s actions on the day were out of character.”<\/p>\n

Police were assisted at the scene by Singleton City Council rangers.<\/p>\n

Mr Cornes said the dog was in a fenced yard and the attack did not occur on the street.<\/p>\n

Six NSW Ambulance resources, intensive care paramedics and the Westpac Rescue helicopter, with a retrieval doctor and critical care paramedic, attended the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

School offers support<\/p>\n

The girl is a student at Singleton High School and was on study leave preparing for exams.<\/p>\n

The New South Wales Department of Education has issued a statement on the school’s behalf.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts and best wishes are with the injured student, their family and those affected,” the statement read.<\/p>\n

“We are providing support to students and staff at the school.”<\/p>\n

Inquiries are continuing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have praised bystanders for helping save a 17-year-old girl attacked by a large, mixed-breed dog in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":202269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,111766,22858,111769,111765,111768,50,111767],"class_list":{"0":"post-202268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-bystanders-help-save-girl-from-dog","10":"tag-dog-attack","11":"tag-dog-attack-in-singleton","12":"tag-girl-attacked-by-dog-in-newcastle","13":"tag-girl-injured-in-dog-attack","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-police-praise-bystanders-for-helping-girl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115151654395365786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}