The Queen’s son Tom Parker Bowles grappled with a ’15-stone dog’ after it mauled his beloved Jack Russell, leaving the tiny pet fighting for her life.
The food writer had been walking Maud along Kensington High Street when they approached what he later described as a ‘vast dog, possibly a cane corso’, being held on a metal chain lead.
He said the pair gave the animal a wide berth, but the dog suddenly ‘spotted Maud, dragged the owner off his feet and brutally attacked’ the two-stone terrier.
In a harrowing account shared on Instagram, he wrote: ‘I eventually managed to fight off the beast, rolling about on the pavement, and desperately trying to unlock its jaws from her tiny torso.
‘It seemed like hours, but was probably no more than 30 seconds,’ the heartbroken dog owner wrote on Instagram.
Maud was left ‘very, very seriously injured’ and was rushed to an emergency vet, aided by a ‘kind lady’ who ‘whistled like a navvy to hail a cab’.
Mr Parker Bowles urged that ‘dangerous dogs like this should always be muzzled’, though he stressed: ‘Although I’m a great believer in there being no bad dogs, rather bad owners.’
The food writer had been walking Maud along Kensington High Street when they approached what he later described as a ‘vast dog, possibly a cane corso’
Mr Parker Bowles urged that ‘dangerous dogs like this should always be muzzled’, though he stressed: ‘Although I’m a great believer in there being no bad dogs, rather bad owners’
He went on to thank the strangers who intervened as Maud lay bleeding on the pavement: ‘I want to thank all the lovely people, of every creed and colour, who rushed to help… The cab drivers who ferried me across town.
‘And the brilliant vet @villagevetlond Chiswick who saved her life.’
He ended with praise for the capital: ‘The kindness of strangers is immense… It’s still the greatest city on earth and I’m so very proud to be a Londoner.’
As reported by the Mail last year, 16 dogs are seized every day in the UK, according to data released last year.
Since November 2023, almost 6,000 dangerous dogs have been taken by 27 police forces – an average of 114 a week.
Greater Manchester recorded the highest seizures, taking 19 dogs a week and putting down 337 animals over the year.
West Midlands officers seized 17 a week, followed by Northumbria with nine. West Yorkshire reported eight, while Leicestershire seized six.
