A RETIRED vet mauled to death by “vicious” dogs had taken the mutts in just weeks before the horrific attack.
Antony Harrington, 77, was found dead in his garden after being savaged by a pack of seven Bernese mountain dogs and dachshunds at his home in Little Packington, Warwickshire.
The widower died on November 25 last year after a suspected cardiac arrest and multiple bite wounds.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, as his clothes lay torn and scattered around the garden.
As the horror unfolded, a friend of the retired vet ran into a neighbour’s house screaming “help, Tony’s dead”, MailOnline reports.
The woman, 75, had moved in with Tony temporarily to help him after a knee operation.
Her savage pack of dogs also moved in just weeks before the gruesome attack.
Dangerous Dogs Act explained
After eleven horrific attacks in 1991, Home Secretary Kenneth Baker promised “to rid the country of the menace of these fighting dogs” by introducing the Dangerous Dogs Act.
The law is often considered controversial as it focuses on a dog’s breed or looks instead of an individual dog’s behaviour, and failed to stem the rise of dog attacks.
According to the RSPCA, over a third of the people killed by dogs since the act was brought in were attacked by legal breeds.
The neighbour who was asked for assistance said the traumatic scene was “absolutely awful”.
“By the time I arrived, police, paramedics and an air ambulance were there but he was covered in bites and it was obvious he was dead,” she recalled.
“It was absolutely awful and not something you can unsee.”
The vicious attack had left some of the victim’s clothes “scattered across the garden”, she added.
She described the hysterical woman being in a “terrible state” after making the distressing discovery.
The villager added: “She had been out and came home in the evening to find Tony in the garden but thought he might have been attacked in the morning.”
According to the witness, the dangerous dogs had been taken away by police and placed in kennels while investigations continued.
A source previously told The Sun: “Tony always loved animals and had a huge black terrier of his own.
“The dogs, which police seized, included his own pet and six which were owned by a friend living with Tony at the time.
“What happened is horrific — no one knows why the dogs attacked him.
“He was found in the garden and bits of his clothes had been scattered around the grass.
“His family are distraught and hope the investigation can help them understand what happened.”
At the time, police said a 75-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of owning a dog dangerously out of control and bailed.
A Warwickshire Police spokesman said: “At 6.04pm on November 25 2023, paramedics contacted police to inform them of a man in cardiac arrest at a house in Packington Lane, Meriden.
“The man in his 70s was declared dead at the scene. He had suffered bite injuries, which were found to be the cause of death.
“Seven dogs were seized at the scene and a 75-year-old woman from the Coleshill area was arrested on suspicion of owning a dog dangerously out of control.”
Dad-of-three Tony ran a veterinary surgery in Birmingham with late wife Louise from 1980 until they both retired.
He was also a steam locomotive fan and helped to restore a 1914 engine.
His funeral was held in Coleshill last month.
Dog Attacks
Britain is battling an epidemic of vicious maulings, with incidents last year hitting a 40-year high.
Police forces recorded 30,539 offences of an out-of-control dog causing injury to a person or guide dog in 2023.
This is a 21 per cent increase from the 25,291 recorded in 2022, reports the BBC.
In 2023, three people have been viciously attacked and killed – including four-year-old Alice Stones who was killed by her family’s dog her back garden in Milton Keynes.
Meanwhile, Wayne Stevens, 51, died following the attack inside a Derby home.
In the last ten years there have been a whopping 41 deaths as a result of vicious hound attacks – and ten of these took place in the last year.
From 2013 – present Yorkshire has seen five deaths from dog attacks – making it the most deadly area in Britain.
Joanne Robinson, 43, was savaged by two dogs at a home in Rotherham.
Her boyfriend Jamie Stead, 42, also suffered devastating injuries to his face, hands and chest as he tried to pull the animals off her.
And in September 2020, Elon Jase Ellis-Joynes was only 12 days old when he was fatally bitten by his family’s Chow Chow-cross called Teddy.
Merseyside and South Wales come in joint second for the most deathly dog attacks – with four in each county.
In October 2022 Ann Dunn, 65, died at her home in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool following a horror involving five American bulldogs.
Just two months later, retired nurse Shirley Patrick, 83, passed away in hospital 17 days after suffering “life-threatening injuries” from a dog in her home.
The National Traction Engine Trust paid tribute to Tony on social media ahead of the memorial.
A post on Facebook read: “We were saddened to hear of the death of Tony Harrington last November.
“Tony was tragically killed last November and circumstances surrounding his death are still part of a police investigation.”
