Durban family's harrowing experience in pitbull attack

A 15-YEAR-OLD spoke of how he looked their family dog - a pitbull - in the eye and pried its jaws open with his hands when it locked onto his leg after biting two other family members in Durban, on Monday.

- ZAINUL DAWOOD

The dog went into a frenzy, biting a mother and her two sons. None of the family members wanted to be identified or their injuries photographed.

Recounting the moments, a family member said he was in the room when he heard his brother scream. He rushed outside to find the dog had bitten his mother and brother outside the front door. He said that he pulled them inside the house and closed the gate but the dog pushed his head through a gap in the gate and gripped him on the leg.

“He was jumping from one to another, trying to get a grip on them. I pulled them in, and before I could close the door, he came through the gate. I punched the dog to get him off my leg, but that did not work. I am not sure where I got the strength from, but I gripped either side of his jaw and pulled it open to release my leg,” he said.