A security guard at a housing complex in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta was hospitalized after he was attacked by a pitbull, allegedly under the instruction of its owner.
According to the police, the security guard, identified as Herman, was on patrol duty last Friday when he noticed that a resident — whose name was not revealed — did not keep his pet pitbull on a leash.
“The dog owner didn’t appreciate being told off by the security guard when he was walking his dog without a leash. The security guard told him off because many people were exercising in the area,” Sawah Besar Police Chief Commissioner Mirza Maulana told JawaPos yesterday.
Mirza said Herman and the dog owner then began shoving each other before the latter set his pitbull on the former. A short video clip of the incident has gone viral, showing the moment when things seemingly got way out of control with the owner trying to stop the pitbull from killing Herman and screaming at him to run away.
(Warning: graphic content)
4. Satpam yg bertanggung jawab untuk keamanan komplek jd korban, ini videonya pic.twitter.com/UC1S5tRZCp
— Dodit Mulyanto (@Dodit_Mulyanto) December 14, 2018
Herman was taken in for intensive care at a nearby hospital shortly after the attack. He was reportedly bitten in the face — at least once in his left cheek and once in his jaw — and sustained numerous wounds throughout his body. Latest reports say he’s still recovering in hospital.
Curiously, Herman did not press charges against the pitbull’s owner. The police say that they had come to a settlement which includes the owner paying for all of Herman’s medical bills.
Several posts alleging the owner to be dangerously irresponsible have gone viral on Twitter, with people claiming to be neighbors of the owner saying that he encourages violent tendencies in the pitbull, even telling it to kill stray animals like cats and dogs in the neighborhood.
At any rate, the pitbull, which was placed under 14-day quarantine by the Jakarta Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Security Agency after the attack, might be returned to its owner should officials deem it to be safe, provided that he keeps a close eye on it and keeps it on a leash among other safety precautions.
Reports of pitbull attacks are quite rare in Indonesia, but one 8-year-old girl was tragically mauled and killed by a pitbull belonging to her foster family in the city of Malang last year.
In the US, pitbulls are statistically the most dangerous breed, responsible for by far the biggest number of fatal attacks on humans despite making up a small proportion of the domesticated dog population.
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