The SUN HK : Filipina looking for owner of dog that bit her 2 years ago

Acosta's finger was still bleeding when she had this photo taken with the dog that bit her

For 12 days in late 2021 to early 2022, Filipina domestic worker Ethel Acosta lay in hospital, suffering through the intense pain from a bite by a huge Golden Retriever.

She was bitten after she tried to pry the big dog away from the smallish chow chow that was in her care and which the much larger dog held by the neck.

Acosta said she had to undergo three operations that included a skin graft, from the deep wound she got from the dog bite on her ring finger.

It happened while she was out walking her employer’s dog in a Cyberport park on Dec. 27, 2021.

“Naglalaro ang mga aso namin, tapos dinamba ng malaking aso ang alaga ko, at umakmang lalapain ang batok. Hinila ko yung harness nung aso para ilayo sa alaga ko, pero kinagat ako sa daliri nang matindi, said Acosta.”

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(While our dogs were playing, the big dog jumped on my dog, and tried to bite it on the neck. I pulled its leash and the dog bit my finger, hard).

She was first taken to Canossa Hospital, and later transferred to Queen Mary where police officers took her statement and conducted an investigation into the incident.

But long after her ordeal, Acosta has yet to get relief from the owner of the dog that attacked her, even after spending time in hospital and undergoing physiotherapy afterwards, all of which cost her employer around $27,000.

The wound from the dog bite was so deep a skin graft had to be done to patch it up

She said she never received an apology, much less an offer of compensation from the dog owner.

With help from her employer, Acosta filed a case at the Small Claims Tribunal, listing down the dog owner’s name and address at Residence Bel Air in Pokfulam.

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However, the respondent never showed up in court, and when Acosta and her employer tried to look for her at the address given them, the guards there said the woman had already moved out a year earlier.

When her case was heard again at the tribunal last July 25, Acosta was advised to put out an advertisement naming the absent respondent, and state why she is being sought. Hopefully, said the tribunal officer, the respondent would show up and pay her claim.

Alternatively, she could go back to the police and ask for help in tracking down the dog owner, as the case had been reported to them previously.

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As proof of her claim, Acosta showed photos of her holding the leash of the dog that bit her, with her bloodied finger visible.

Unfortunately, she only managed to get the first name and telephone number of the helper tending the dog, but through her, Acosta got the name of her employer and their address in Bel Air.

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While she was in hospital, the other helper named Leah who gave her telephone number as 46273923, reportedly stopped responding to her calls and text messages.

Neither Leah nor her employer showed up at the tribunal for the hearing of Acosta’s claim.