Dog rescues boy

Press, 20 July 1983, Page 1

Dog rescues boy

PA Auckland A German Shepherd dog is believed to have hauled an unconscious two-year-old boy from a back yard swimming pool in the Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington yesterday. The boy, Sonny Fanaua, was seriously ill in Auckland Hospital last night. His mother, Mrs Moka Fanaua, said the cries of another two-year-old boy alerted her to the mishap. The boys had been playing on a neighbour’s driveway. Sonny then wandered to an adjoining property. He apparently fell into a swimming pool and was pulled to safety by the Fanaua’s family pet dog, Unna.

Mrs Fanaua was inside when Sonny’s companion, Horouta Woods, came running to the door crying: “Unna bite Sonny, Unna bite Sonny.” She ran outside. When she reached her son, he had stopped breathing and the colour had drained from his face.-

“He was lying on the ground beside the pool, Mrs Fanaua said. “I pushed him on the stomach. I just panicked, and stood there and screamed.” • Mrs Fanaua noticed teeth marks on the baby’s arm and clothing.

When Sonny’s friend had first cried out, Mrs Fanaua had called the dog, but Unna did not respond. “The dog normally comes straight away when I call it ... it must have been the dog that pulled the baby out

of the water,” she said. Officers from the St John Ambulance life support unit at Howick went to the aid of the boy. Sonny was taken to Middlemore Hospital soon after 1 p.m. and placed in the resuscitation unit, but was later transferred to the department of critical care at Auckland Hospital.