Advertisement ::

Enlarge Cartoon

Schaffhausen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A four-year-old boy was bitten by a one-year-old Rotweiler dog while his family picnicked near a main road in an industrial zone in Schaffhausen, north of Zurich, Sunday, around 17:00. The boy is in serious condition with head injuries but his life is not in danger.

Police are investigating, but the initial report is that a woman was walking her dog, who was not on a leash, when he began to run towards the family, which was barbecuing. The family’s 10-year-old daughter began to scream and the dog jumped on the youngest child in the group – a father, his small son and two girls, 10 and 19. The oldest daughter tried to separate the dog from her brother and was slightly injured.

The incident, well covered by Swiss media, comes at a time when the Swiss parliament is debating federal legislation to cover dangerous dogs. Laws currently in effect are made by the cantons and they vary considerably: Geneva and Vaud, for example, have banned Rotweilers, while in Schaffhausen they are not one of the four “dangerous dog” breeds under relatively new and tighter legislation.