Teenage boy, 16, could lose his finger after being mauled by dog

A teenage boy mauled by a dog suffered a bite so severe his finger was ‘crushed to the bone’.

Kobie Pollard was 15 when he was attacked by a Perro de Presa Canario while walking to his grandma’s on July 17, 2024 in Kirklees, West Yorkshire.

The Canarian Mastif jumped over a garden fence and went for Kobie’s face.

Kobie raised his hands to protect himself but the dog bit his hand and tried to drag him into the garden.

Fortunately, he managed to free himself and his family called an ambulance.

Mum Sarah Pollard said: ‘His tendon was hanging out of his hand. The bone on his ring finger is completely crushed.

‘He goes to the hospital nearly every two weeks to see a hand specialist.’

Kobie, now 16, has had two surgeries – one to close the wound and the other to put a wire into his knuckle in an attempt to save the bone.

The wire placed in the second surgery has since been taken out, with the knuckle bone floating around in his hand.

Doctors have given him two options: amputate his finger or transplant a bone from his foot. But he has been told that the latter is unlikely.

Sarah said: ‘It’s horrible. No mother should have to go through what I’ve had to see my son go through.

‘The boy that he was a year ago to the boy he is now, mentally, it’s crushing to see.

‘It’s completely flipped him upside down. He’s gone from being a very loud, outgoing person to somebody who stays in his room.

‘He’s struggling in all shapes and forms.’

The dog was destroyed, and its owner, Jemma Hampton, was arrested and ordered to pay a fine at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court on May 12.

She was ordered to pay £1,400 to Kobie with £40 monthly instalments.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.