Doncaster mum tells of being mauled by XL bully dog to save daughter

A mother who was mauled by a dog while trying to protect her daughter has told of the life-changing impact of the attack.

Doncaster teaching assistant Katie Deere, 31, was walking her own dog and her daughter in a pushchair when she was bitten by a loose XL bully last month.

She needed 50 stitches and five hours of surgery after the incident and does not know what the long-term impact will be.

She told the Yorkshire Live website: "It's changed me massively as a person. I was so confident and now I am so anxious I can't go anywhere without my mum or dad without getting overwhelmed and ending up in tears because it's just all too much.

"I'm petrified of having to take my own dog out now. Even when I am better, how will I ever feel safe again taking my daughter and my dog out now?"

Katie was walking with her dog and daughter on Doncaster Road in Askern when the XL bully ran at her on 17 August.

She pushed her pram towards a passer-by before being savaged by the dog.

A passing lorry driver ran to help and managed to free her arm before calling an ambulance.

She was rushed to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital, where she had surgery on both arms and a repair of her left finger, which was partially amputated.

Katie said: "I can remember seeing the dog running towards me. Truthfully I was absolutely petrified, I love dogs, but I could see it was coming for me and it just looked so angry.

"Some things are really clear and some things really aren't, I don't know if that is my way of blocking out the trauma. I can remember saying to the woman at the side of the road 'please don't let me die I have a daughter.’

"As much as I knew I was in danger I just wanted my daughter out of the way, I knew my mum and dad would be called and she would be ok.

"I can just remember the most horrific and intense pain, everyone says child labour is the worst pain, but it's not. I wouldn't wish the pain on anybody."

She added: "The lorry driver that saved me said there was so much blood dripping from my arm, he said he didn't know if I was going to survive or not.

"The ambulance got there first, it didn't go through as critical initially, but they soon changed that and an air ambulance arrived. My finger was classed as a partial amputation, my left finger had been broken at a 90 degree angle and I had gashes out of my right arm, top and bottom.”

The dog involved in the incident was destroyed after being seized by armed officers.

It comes after South Yorkshire Police called for XL bully dogs to be added to the list of banned breeds after a sharp rise in the number of attacks.

It said officers had already dealt with 180 reports of out of control dogs in 2023 – more than double the number for the whole of 2018.

The force said XL bullies were "disproportionately" represented in the number of dog attacks.

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