A MAN had his ear ripped off by a vicious XL Bully – after the banned breed pounced on him while he was asleep.
Darren Shuttleworth-Long was brutally attacked by the dog, which he was looking after, after he fell asleep on April 26.
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To his horror, the 52-year-old awoke to discover the dog’s jaw locked underneath his armpit.
Pancaking, Darren managed to get the dog off him but the hound came back for more and launched a second attack on him.
During the second attack the XL Bully bit Darren’s right ear, ripping it off.
Darren finally struggled away from the out of control dog and was rushed to hospital.
He spent three days recovering from the horror attack in the ICU (intensive care unit) at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital.
Darren is currently waiting to have his ear reconstructed with plastic surgery.
Wiltshire Police have confirmed that a 24-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury.
She has been released on bail pending further inquiries while police probe the horrific attack.
Darren, from Swindon, Wiltshire, said: “I went to sleep and had the dog asleep next to me.
“I woke up and it had latched on the side of me. I managed to move it off.
“It attacked me again and hit me on the side.
“I crashed against the bedroom door and locked myself in with the dog.
“He was having a go on my right ear. He bit my ear off.
“He hit me about eight to ten times – I thought ‘I’m in serious trouble‘.”
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Darren says the attack was unprovoked and lasted for an agonising ten minutes before he was luckily able to escape the dog.
He added: “My whole right side of my face was numb. There was blood everywhere.
“It was pouring out of me. It was like a horror movie. My whole face was covered in blood. Half my nose was hanging off.”
After arriving in hospital he had what was left of his savaged ear stitched up.
He said: “The tissue had to come off – there was nothing to attach it to.”
He has since been recovering from the attack and now struggles with going out.
He said: “I can’t go anywhere near big dogs now.
“It’s a long lasting stress that will be there for the rest of my life.
“Dogs barking sends cold chills through me.”
Darren is currently waiting for the soft tissue left on his ear to harden before he can have an appointment with a plastic surgeon to look at reconstruction.
Which dog breeds are banned in the UK?
THERE are specific regulations in place that prohibit certain dog breeds from being owned or bred in the UK.
So what are the illegal dogs in the UK and why are they illegal? Here’s what we know.
Which dog breeds are illegal in the UK?
People tend to think of large, vicious dogs when they imagine being bitten by one.
But the truth is that many types of dogs are known to bite humans, whether provoked or not.
However, it’s important to remember that just because a breed tends to bite humans, that doesn’t mean that they all do.
British law determines five breeds of dog are illegal to own, breed, sell or give away.
These are an XL Bully, Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Brasileiro.
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