The dog attacked children playing in Burns Avenue, Blyth, Northumberland, at 6.30pm on Wednesday, Northumbria Police said.
Advertisement
None were thought to be seriously injured.
Sheryl Allison, whose daughter was in the park at the time, told ChronicleLive: “The dog attacked about 14 kids, it was like a terrorist attack”. The dog was completely out of control‘.
“There were injured kids lying all over the place – it was a warzone”.
Adam Mulvey, who lives next to the park, said: “I got a knock on the door from a little girl telling us that there were several children trapped in the park with the dog, and one of them was my little girl”.
“The whole street has been traumatised by this, nothing like this has ever happened before”.
“One of Isabel’s friends is still in hospital and is going in for surgery”. The first girl to be bitten is only seven and she has nine bites.
Mulvey said he ran outside, saw the dog and sat on it, before tying it to the fence.
“It was so scary as the dog was contained within the park, so it had nowhere to go”, she said.
“When I went to the scene, other parents there asked if she was my daughter and praised her for being really courageous and remaining calm”.
Residents claim that the dog was running around the park for around 45 minutes before the horrific incident.
This can help to trace the owners of out of control dogs and, campaigners say, may encourage people to take greater responsibility for their dog’s behaviour, as it can be traced back to them.
Mum Gillian said: “I was standing outside my mum’s house talking to my sister when I just heard all this screaming coming from the park”.
Nine children had to be taken to hospital to be treated for their injuries in Blyth.
“Emergency services attended and police were able to bring the animal under control”.
“Police remain in the area to reassure the local community and carry out enquiries to locate the animal’s owner”.
Advertisement
The animal is believed to be a tan-coloured Staffordshire bull terrier dog and remains in secure police kennels.
