Dog attack shakes up community
Residents are rallying behind the victim’s family, reports Donna-Lee Biddle. A dog attack which left a sevenyear-old Japanese girl fighting for her life has rocked the Bay of Plenty community where the youngster and her family had planned to set down roots.
Murupara’s Sakurako Uehara was attacked by four bull terriercross dogs while visiting a family friend at a property on Monday afternoon.
She is a pupil at Te Kura Kaupapa Motuhake o Tawhiuau.
She was in Middlemore Hospital and last night her condition was listed as "critical but stable". It was not expected to change for several days.
It was understood the owner of the dogs was a good friend of the Sakurako’s father, Yasuyuki and her mother, Kumiko. He had given the newcomers vegetables grown from his maara kai (garden).
Rua Te Pairi, who worked with the dog owner said: ‘‘People think these were big vicious dogs but they weren’t, they were small dogs – family pets.
‘‘They were good owners, they were helping them [the Ueharas] out, giving them kai, and the families became fast friends.’’
It was believed the dog owner left Murupara for Auckland yesterday. Police said the owner had been co-operating with an investigation into the attack.
The Ueharas enrolled their daughter at Te Kura Kaupapa Motuhake o Tawhiuau at the beginning of February for a month and the family was to return to Japan to sort residency requirements. They had planned to return in November.
‘‘They came with the intention of just looking around but they came in and within a half an hour of them being here, they loved it,’’ Pem Bird, the principal of the kura said.
The Waikato Times understands Sakurako’s mother had a stint teaching Japanese language at the kura. Staff and pupils at the school held prayers for the family but were still coming to terms with the attack.
‘‘Kids are resilient but they can feel it,’’ Mr Bird said.
Sakurako, described by Mr Bird as an angel, had a week long noho (stay) at Rangitahi marae. The young young pupil was far from homesick, she fitted right in, proving language to be no barrier, Mr Bird said.
‘‘Her parents were thrilled with
Sakurako Uehara, 7, who was savagely attacked by four dogs in Murupara on Monday afternoon.