“If God said it is not your time, then it is not your time,” says a man who was attacked by dogs on a smallholding in Leeuwpoort, Witbank, Mpumalanga.

On June 8, Bernard Mphakga, who had been renting a home on the smallholding for two years, was almost mauled to death when a pack of pit bull terriers escaped from their enclosure and attacked him.

He recalls the day when it happened and says that this event has emotionally scarred him for life and that it is only by the grace of God that he is alive today.

“The buildings on the smallholding where I stay are roughly 100 to 150m apart. The enclosure housing the dogs is a wooden fence, and that is where the dogs are being kept. I work for myself and came home late. When I opened the gate, everything was normal; there were no dogs to be seen,” explains Mphakga.

He says that as he approached his home, he noticed one dog out of the corner of his eye appear and have its eyes locked on him.

“The dog started growling at me, and at that moment my mind went blank as it started increasing its speed toward me. A second dog came around the corner, but before the first dog could attack me, the second dog attacked the first dog and pushed it away from me,” Mphakga explains.

“As I tried to get past them and go to my house, two more dogs came running. They jumped the fence like Springboks. I do not know how I moved towards my house, but I remember running for my life, that was the only solution I had. I don’t know where the other dogs came from. I knew if I could reach my house, I would be safe,” says Mphakga, but that was unfortunately not the case; the dogs had caught up with him.

He explains that he tried to turn his back on the dogs. “As they started biting me, I was screaming for help. At my house there is a small verandah about one metre away from me, where I tried to pull myself toward the door, but they [had] bitten me on the back of my legs. I could not walk anymore, and I fell to my knees.”

According to Mphakga, three dogs were biting him on the left and three on the right. “I did not close my eyes because I was fighting. I thought that I’d be the next victim of a pit bull attack, but my spirit told me that I will not die. I fought tooth and nail, and as I was screaming for help, out of nowhere this young boy appeared and called once, and the dogs immediately stopped,” Mphakga recalls.

After the dogs moved away, Mphakga says he asked the boy to help him get to safety as he crawled to the gardener’s shed.

Mphakga gave his phone to the young boy who saved him from the attack, and he helped contact a friend to take Mphakga to hospital. Within 10 minutes, his friend was on the scene and took him away.

He explains that by that time he felt very dizzy as he had lost a lot of blood.

Mphakga says he was admitted to Witbank Hospital, where he stayed for six days.

According to the doctor, the wounds could not be stitched up because of a fear of infection.

After the attack, while Mphakga was in hospital, a cow that wandered onto the property was also attacked, with deep wounds to its face and body.

“Normally there would be two dogs (pit bulls), and they were friendly; they never attacked me. This year, from March, there have been more dogs, as they were circulating every few weeks and then moving out,” Mphakga explains.

Franci Wallace, who took care of the dogs, says she does not have an explanation for how the attack happened. She has no idea how the dogs could’ve gotten out and says she is sad that the incident occurred. Wallace has been rescuing dogs and has always had a love for animals.

“The dogs were rescue dogs and not mine. I’ve had them for four weeks. The SPCA came to fetch the dogs, and we still cannot understand how it happened. There was nothing I could do, as I was not home at the time. My grandchild was able to help and get the dogs away from the man,” explains Wallace.

She adds that this has been a tough situation and that sometimes dogs arriving at the shelter are in bad shape. She says that some of the dogs cannot be rehomed, while others do find homes.

“The cow that got attacked wasn’t supposed to be in my yard,” explains Wallace, adding that she is on good terms with the owner of the cow and there are no hard feelings since they both were in the wrong.

Since the incidents, four dogs have been removed from the premises by Witbank SPCA on June 13, while one dog escaped and has not been found yet.

It is unclear how many dogs have been involved in the attack.

Carika Roux from the Witbank SPCA says that not all pit bulls are dangerous.

“Inbreeding and being raised wrongly by their owners are major contributing factors regarding an animal’s behaviour,” adds Roux.