The News captured Tara-Jade in 2004 when she was selected as the winner of the Berwick Show Quest in the three to five-year-old category.By Rebecca Fraser
A NARRE Warren mother has warned pet owners to never underestimate the aggression of domestic dogs after her five-year-old daughter was viciously mauled.
Tara-Jade Tiffen still bares both physical and psychological scars from the attack that saw a neighbour’s Staffordshire terrier lock jaws with her face as her 11-year-old brother watched on. Mother of five, Tracey Tiffen, is still deeply upset by the incident and fought back tears when she spoke to the News this week about her daughter’s ordeal.
Ms Tiffen said she now believed that every animal could potentially turn and was capable of becoming aggressive.
Ms Tiffen said she was told after the attack that the dog’s actions were completely out of character. But, she said the pet was put down three weeks later.
The attack happened on Melbourne Cup Day last November when Tara-Jade was playing on a neighbour’s letterbox.
“She jumped off and the neighbour’s dog bolted through the front door and locked his jaw into her face. My husband had to put his hands in the dog’s mouth and rip open his jaws because she was pinned to the ground. The owner tried to get him off but he couldn’t,” she said.
Ms Tiffen still has difficulty retelling the incident and said she could not put into words how she felt when she went outside and saw her daughter injured.
“At first I thought it had ripped her whole eye out. It was just unbelievable by the time I got to her,” she said.
Due to the public holiday, no plastic surgeon was available when Tara-Jade was taken to hospital and she was sent home and had to return the next day.
Tara-Jade now has scars all over her right cheek and needs further laser treatment to iron out some of the scarring and excess facial tissue.
From a young age Tara-Jade had taken part in beauty quests but Ms Tiffen stressed that this was not why she wanted her daughter’s face fixed.
“It would be nice if she could look in the mirror and not be reminded of what has happened to her and what she has been through. That is why we want the further treatment,” she said.
The prep student found it extremely hard to settle into school this year following the horrific incident and Ms Tiffen said they virtually had to drag her to class during first term.
To add further insult to her daughter’s injury and suffering the family has been advised that the five-year-old is not eligible for compensation as her scars do not meet the required five per cent permanent disability criteria. The move also follows changes to public liability insurance three years ago.
The family now must pay for further procedures, expected to cost thousands of dollars, and Ms Tiffen said she would have to consider taking out a loan.
She said having her daughter’s face repaired was far more than just cosmetic and was about letting Tara-Jade move on from the incident.
“I am disappointed that she has gone through so much pain and suffering and no one will help us, or even buy a tube of cream.
Who is to blame? Who is responsible? I’m left with both a physically and psychologically scarred daughter and who helps us? Do they just shut the books on us? Is she just another number?” she said.
