A TEENAGER has been charged after a police dog was attacked with a machete.
A 16-year-old – who cannot be named – was released from hospital on Tuesday, November 17, where he’d been receiving treatment for dog bite injuries.
He was questioned by detectives about the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning in which three-year-old police dog Stark suffered facial cuts.
The teenager, from Handsworth, has been charged with possessing a bladed weapon and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected (service) animal under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
He’s been bailed to appear at Birmingham Youth Court next month.
His bail includes a condition to live and sleep at a specified address and to abide by a 7pm to 7am curfew.
Stark, who was born as part of the Games Of Thrones litter at the Balsall Common West Midlands Police dog training unit, was sedated and underwent surgery to stitch together nasty wounds on either side of his face.
Luckily the blade narrowly missed the German Shepherd and Belgian Malinois cross’s right eye and vets have said he’ll make a full recovery and be back on the hunt for criminals in a couple of weeks.
His handler PC Paul Hopley said: “When I saw the wounds so close to Stark’s eye I feared the worst. I thought he could have been blinded in that eye.
“Me and Stark have been together for 18 months now and are very much a team. We look out for each other. Stark did a great job and it’s a huge relief he’s going to be okay.
“He’s not going to be happy about having to take two weeks off at home to recover. He’s a bundle of energy and even on our rest days is climbing the walls wanting to get back to work.
“And I’m afraid he’s going to have to wear a ‘cone of shame’ until the cuts heal as otherwise he’s going to try and scratch out the stitches.”
