WARNING: Story contains graphic details and images
Shelby MacNeil doesn’t hold any ill will toward the dog that attacked her in Langley on Tuesday night, leaving her with wounds that required 85 staples in her leg as well as plastic surgery.
She doesn’t even want an apology from the owner. But she wants that dog turned in so it can’t hurt anyone else.
“It could have been a little kid,” MacNeil told Global News.
Coverage of dog attacks on Globalnews.ca:
MacNeil, a mother of two who lives in Mission, was visiting a convenience store at 272 Street and 29 Avenue in Aldergrove at about 7 p.m.
She was grabbing some water for her baseball team when the dog, described as a “brindle bull mastiff” in a Facebook post by her sister-in-law, seemingly came from the parking lot.
“He had my whole leg back and he was just shaking back and forth,” MacNeil said.
She described being tossed around like a rag doll.
Then she heard a whistle.
“I don’t know where the whistle came from,” MacNeil said.
“I don’t know if the whistle was from a female or a male, but I do know the whistle is what made that dog stop.”
READ MORE: Vicious Langley dog attack leaves woman with 85 staples in leg
The dog’s owner didn’t step in to help or stay around.
MacNeil later asked a passerby to lend her his belt so she could make a tourniquet.
Then she drove to a park for help.
“I was screaming like literally for my life while this was happening,” MacNeil said.
“I was screaming so loud. So if I heard his whistle, I know he would’ve heard my screams.”
MacNeil received three stitches in addition to the 85 staples.
She’s depending on family help amid a recovery that could take months, leaving her without an income.
A GoFundMe page sent along by MacNeil’s sister has been set up to raise money for her with a goal of $10,000.
It said she would be without income for three months and that she doesn’t have benefits through her work.
The fundraiser had brought in $480 as of Friday night.
For now, MacNeil is having a difficult time coping — she sees the dog’s face every time she closes her eyes.
“It’s difficult, it’s very difficult,” she said.
“I can’t get up and go like I always did.”
- With files from Simon Little and Erin Ubels