Pet dog mauled to death at Wigan beauty spot

Sian Bint told how her family’s miniature schnauzer Tufty was treated like a ragdoll during the vicious mauling which inflicted horrendous injuries on him at Wigan Flashes.

The six-year-old pet was being walked by Sian’s teenage son and his friend when a huge dog, described as possibly a mastiff or Ridgeback cross, emerged from the woodlands.

When Tufty trotted up to the animal two more large canines emerged from the undergrowth and launched a savage attack.

Tufty was rushed to a vet but could not be saved as the teeth marks went right through his spleen and into his kidneys, leaving experts unable to stop the internal bleeding.

Heartbroken Sian, from Hawkley Hall, is now urging action be taken after a social media post about the incident revealed he may not have been the only dog attacked there.

She said: “Tufty wanted to play with the first dog and the next thing these other two came out of the woods and they just ragdolled him. They treated him like he was a toy.

“One of them had him in his mouth and was shaking him. My son has had to beat them off.

“The vets operated but said they had chewed right through his spleen and into his kidneys. He had broken ribs and a ruptured diaphragm too so there was nothing they could do. Even if they held the main artery the bleeding was just uncontrollable.

“I don’t want anybody else to go through what we are going through. My son is traumatised and we’re all devastated to lose our dog. He was our family pet and so close to Christmas it’s just awful.

“It’s absolutely horrendous and I feel something needs doing about this.”

Sian said the pack of dogs had no collars on and did not show signs of being particularly well kept.

Her son and his friend saw no sign of an owner at all, saying they appeared out of the woodland close to Cemetery Road in Ince and then disappeared back into the foliage after the attack.

When Sian posted about the incident, which happened at about 3.30pm on Sunday, on Facebook she was horrified to see she was not the only resident who appears to have had nasty encounters with large canines while walking their pets at the flashes.

She said: “Looking at Facebook it seems three dogs have been killed in this way.

“A friend of mine also had the same thing happen to her within the last few weeks. They also got attacked by a bigger dog but hers was a Labrador so it survived the surgery.

“It seems to me this is happening quite frequently now.

“My main concern is there was a lady walking with a litle girl there. If she had a dog and the girl was playing with it she could have been quite badly hurt.”

Wigan Council was alerted to the incident but said it was a police matter as it involved animals that were dangerous or out-of-control.

Sian has now raised the subject of the attack with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and hopes to press officers for a full investigation.

She said she also wants to make the RSPCA aware of the incident.