The family of a nine-month-old baby girl mauled by an XL bully in a horrific attack have revealed she is now recovering at home.
Arabella was rushed to hospital in an air ambulance after the family pet “snapped” in the living room of a home in Hawkinge, near Folkestone, Kent, on December 11. She was treated in the intensive care unit at King’s College Hospital in south London. The dog, an XL Bully named Hunter, was seized by police and later euthanised by a vet. Speaking a few days after the incident, Arabella’s great aunt Stephanie Coombs, 33, said the dog “just snapped” and began attacking the young child.
Now, Arabella’s family have shared that the “brave” tot was placed into an induced coma in intensive care to aid her recovery. Thankfully, her injuries did not require any surgery, and she was discharged after three weeks in hospital. She is now said to be doing well. Her grandad told Kent Online: “Arabella is doing really well, bless her, as is her mum. She was put into an induced coma for the best positive outcome so she could get better, as she’s only a baby. Arabella and her mum have been so brave.”
Kent Police arrested an 18-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control. It later emerged that police had asked to destroy the dog that mauled an eight-month-old girl around one year prior to the incident, following a report that its owner had been bitten on the finger. The owner had been requested to voluntarily surrender the dog to officers to be put down but did not hand it over.
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