Dog bite victim left 'anxious and fearful'

A man has been left "anxious and fearful around dogs" after a suspected XL bully mauled his hand in a west London park.

Gualberto Ramirez, who lives in White City, was attacked by a dog in Wormwood Scrubs, on 9 May and required surgery to his hand.

The dog, which the 49-year-old strongly suspects was an XL bully, was not muzzled or on a lead as required by recent new laws.

The Met Police confirmed it was investigating the incident.

WARNING: This article contains an image of a dog bite injury some may find upsetting.

From 1 February, it became an offence in England and Wales to own an XL bully without an exemption certificate.

Anyone who owns one of the dogs must have the animal neutered and microchipped, and keep it muzzled and on a lead in public, among other restrictions.

Mr Ramirez told BBC London he was walking through the park to get home after a trip to the cinema.

He said he decided to make his way to a bench, which is where he spotted a man and woman and their two dogs.

"As soon as the XL bully dog noticed me, he came charging towards me," he said. "I thought he was charging towards me to greet me. He didn't bark or anything."

"As soon as it got close enough to me, I kind of leaned a bit forward to welcome it.

"And I recall even greeting it, like, 'Hey, how are you?' But then it just takes a bite from my right hand."

He said once he was bitten he went into "defence mode" and grabbed the dog by the "fat of his neck" - a technique he says he learned from Mexican-American TV dog trainer Cesar Millan.

The couple approached him after the bite and the man managed to get the dog on the lead.

"The female owner was apologising, saying that I came out of nowhere so she didn't have time to put the muzzle on the dog," Mr Ramirez said.

While on the lead but without a muzzle, the dog then took a lunge at Mr Ramirez and bit his ring finger.

The woman asked Mr Ramirez if he wanted to walk to a hospital about 10 minutes away but he said he could not due to shock and feeling dizzy.

The woman offered to call an ambulance but left the scene without doing so, leaving him to seek medical help on his own.

"At that point, I'm like, 'OK, I guess I'm alone in this' and I just assumed they didn't call an ambulance," Mr Ramirez said.

Instead he walked to the nearby hospital for treatment.

"My right hand got the majority of it. I have two large bites which needed stitches, and there's still numbness in my index finger and thumb," he said.

Mr Ramirez said the recovery time could be about six months and it was possible the numbness would remain permanently.

He added: "It took a toll on me mentally from not being able to do things and feeling low and down about the whole situation."

The Metropolitan Police investigation into the incident was "flawed from the beginning", Mr Ramirez said.

While they did take a statement, he was told "there wasn't anything they could do" as there was no CCTV evidence.

"About a week later, after I did some outreach to the local media, they got in touch again to say the case wasn't handled as best as it should have been the first time around and they wanted to reinvestigate," he said.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it had received a report of an incident where a man was bitten by a dog.

Officers said the man reported the dog bite on 10 May and an appointment was made to take a statement.

The man believed the dog to be an XL Bully, the force continued.

Inquiries into the incident are ongoing.