Zimpapers Logo

Chronicle Reporter

A nine-year-old girl from Harare’s Whitecliffe suburb died on admission at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals after she was mauled by a pit bull.

According to the police, the dog attacked the girl on Saturday, February 25.

“The ZRP is investigating a sad incident where a 9-year-old female juvenile died on admission at Parirenyatwa Hospital after being attacked by a pit-bull dog at a house in Whitecliffe, Harare, on 25/03/23,” said the police on their Twitter handle.

The country has recorded a number of cases where members of the public died after attacks by dogs putting a spotlight on a craze by pet lovers to buy mostly dangerous and aggressive dog breeds albeit with little regard to their characteristics.

Last year, a Bulawayo man was mauled to death by his two Boerboels after they reportedly mistook him for an intruder.

His neighbours watched helplessly as the vicious dogs savaged him when he returned unexpectedly from work at midday to collect a toolbox he had forgotten.

Two months before the Bulawayo incident, a 7-year-old ECD learner from Madzimoyo Farm in Hurungwe District in Karoi, Mashonaland West, died after he was mauled by a suspected rabid family dog, leaving his face unrecognisable.

The deceased minor was attacked by the vicious dog at the family homestead.

Three years ago, a Bulawayo woman, Ms Cherish Muchegwa of West Somerton suburb, made headlines after her landlady’s five dogs mauled her.

Ms Muchegwa had just entered the gate to her lodgings when the dogs ran to her before attacking her, tearing off flesh from her arms and legs. Through the assistance of Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Raj Modi, Ms Muchengwa was flown to India for a surgical operation where she spent three months at Kiran Hospital.