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British man was taking his dog for a stroll through his neighbourhood’s streets when suddenly thieves approached the elderly man.
Their goal was to kidnap his beloved shorthaired German pointer, a purebred worth a lot of money, but they had another thing coming.
“There was no doubt that it was Alfie they wanted,” says Michael (64), who asked not to be fully identified for fear of being targeted again. “Whether it was for breeding or to sell or what.”
So desperate were the two perpetrators, they threw industrial cleaning fluid concealed in an Irn-Bru bottle (a carbonated soft drink) at the 64-year-old grandfather as he walked with Alfie, Daily Mail reports.
Alfie, who according to The Sun is worth around R56 000, sustained chemical burns on his back and Michael has burns on his back, arms and hands.
“The first man was big and fat, about 1,8m. He just grabbed Alfie by the collar and was wrestling with him,” Michael says of the attack, which took place in Boughton Monchelsea, Kent, on Sunday.
“Alfie’s only 10 months old but he’s a big, strong dog, about 31kg, and he managed to knock this guy over somehow. I think he tripped him. I was more concerned about the dog than anything else, so I went over to try and free him.”
According to Daily Mail, it was then that the second attacker came out from behind the trees with the Irn-Bru bottle.
“He sprayed me but I turned away just in time. It went all over my back, arm, some on my hands and a bit just below my left eye,” the grandfather of four says.
“It burned like hell and started blistering straight away. I only had a T-shirt on and it ate straight through it.”
Alfie intervened and saved his owner from further agony.
“He came back and tried to throw more, but Alfie was between the two of us at this point so he was hit by the acid on his back and started yelping and screaming.”
The dog suffered burns to its back but managed to wriggle free and ran back to the house, which wasn’t far away. Michael’s wife, Gabrielle (66), found him outside.
Michael says he was also walking his other dog, Tia (eight months), also a German pointer, but the attackers had no interest in her.
Michael showered at a neighbour’s house and was then taken to Tunbridge Wells Hospital.
“The vet said Alfie should be OK but we don’t know how bad his scars will be, so it’s unlikely he’ll be able to compete again,” Michael says.
“There are some horrible people out there. They have no respect for the law.”
Sources: : Daily Mail, The Sun, News Exchanges
