The victim of a ‘‘horrendous'' Dunedin dog attack is set to be evicted from her cottage as she remains unable to work, struggling to pay rent.
The woman suffered injuries to much of her body when three Irish wolfhounds attacked her in Walter St about 6.30am on December 2 last year. The most serious injury was to her right leg.
‘‘My leg will never be the same again ... the deep wounds are still healing and raw.''
Before the attack the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, worked two part-time jobs delivering newspapers and doing cleaning jobs to supplement her benefit, but the injuries left her unable to work.
She declined ACC compensation for lost income because every dollar ACC gave would reduce her benefit by a dollar - making her financially no better off.
She was hoping to deliver newspapers again, if her health allowed, but she had been replaced in her cleaning jobs.
Her surgeon told her she might be able to resume deliveries in a fortnight, she said.
The deep nerve damage sustained during the attack had left an arm and leg numb, she said.
Yesterday, her landlord put an eviction notice in her letterbox giving her a month to vacate the Port Chalmers cottage.
‘‘I'm stressed to the max' ... it doesn't seem fair. I've got nowhere else to go. I'll be on the street.''
The letter did not give a reason for the eviction, she said.
The attack had ‘‘put my life on hold'' and sometimes her weekly $160 rent payment was late.
The Dunedin-based landlord was not answering his phone yesterday.
The woman lived in the cottage with a flatmate and her 5-year-old Dalmatian Zeddedy. She feared she would struggle to find somewhere for her and Zeddedy to live.
After the attack, a Givealittle page was set up and closed yesterday, with $4450 raised.
She was overwhelmed by the generosity and thanked everyone who gave money. The money would pay off debt accrued after the attack.
Since the attack, she had struggled to sleep.
The sound of the dogs attacking was clear in her mind, so was the memory of the first wolfhound grabbing her arm, its owner unaware, while crouching to pick something up.
‘‘I'm quite emotional about it. It was horrendous.''
