I thought I'd die when I was mauled by savage XL Bully, 11-year-old girl reveals as new vid shows attack that injured 3

A BRAVE schoolgirl has told today how she thought she was going to die after being savaged by an XL bully dog “glaring at me”.

Terrified Ana Paun, 11, described how the animal pounced after lying unleashed in a Birmingham bus shelter as she walked past to buy sweets from a corner shop.

Dog attack victim Ana, 11, says she feared for her lifeCredit: SWNS

New footage shows Ana trying to run away from the out-of-control dogCredit: Twitter

The frightened schoolgirl was savaged by the American XL bully while shoppingCredit: Twitter

Footage of the runaway dog’s attack in Birmingham was widely shared onlineCredit: Tiktok/@n1z2040

New video footage has emerged of the attack by the American XL bully that left three people injured, as Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced plans to ban the American XL bully breed.

Ana has described how the beast suddenly pounced on her, grabbing her lower left arm in its huge jaws.

She said: “I thought it was going to attack my face and neck and that I was going to die.

“I kept screaming and screaming – I was petrified.”

The youngster was reliving her nightmare ordeal after returning home from hospital nursing a severely bitten left arm.

She also suffered wounds to her chest, shoulder, hands and legs.

She said: “I am so thankful to the two men who helped fight the dog off.

“I thought it was going to kill me. They suffered worse injuries than me.”

Ana, speaking with her mum Monika’s permission, told The Sun Online: “Dogs like that should be banned.

“It was dangerous and out of control and the owner had just left it alone on the street.”

The girl had only started at her new secondary school last week but is now signed off sick.

Speaking on the sofa of her Birmingham home in a pyjama top saying “Hug Me”, she kept wincing with every moment – saying: “My injuries really hurt.”

But she insisted: “I’m lucky, it could have been so much worse – I feared for my life.”

And she welcomed Ms Braverman’s announcement she wanted American XL dogs to be outlawed.

Ana said of the dog which attacked her: “I want him to go away, to die.

“I think all of the dogs, the bulldogs, all of them should be banned.

“The owner should be in prison because he never did anything, he just let the dog bite everyone.”

Her mum said: “She’s fine – she’s been to hospital but she’s fine, recovering now.

“I’m thanking to God she is alive.”

I saw this dog just staring at me and I got very scared

Ana Paun

Both the passers-by who intervened to help Ana as the dog went on the rampage remain in hospital.

Ana had been walking to a nearby shop, Zahir Supermarket in the Birmingham district of Bordesley Green, alongside elder sister Geneza, 18.

Their trip, intended “to buy sweets, chocolate and snacks”, took a turn for the worse.

She recalled: “I saw this dog just staring at me and I got very scared.

“It was lying down in the bus shelter outside the shop and had no lead, collar or muzzle.

“It kept staring at me and I started running, and screaming and screaming, but it suddenly pounced on me and grabbed my left arm, then it went for my chest and I thought it was going to go for my neck and face.

“It was too big for me to get off.

“There was blood everywhere and I was terrified and my sister ran home to get my mum and dad.

“Then there were people everywhere trying to fight it off and it ran across the road.”

Minutes later police and ambulance arrived at the scene and the injured child was taken to hospital.

Ana’s sister told of her shock at seeing the mauling, saying: “I was with Ana but the dog went for her because she is smaller than me and an easier target.

“It was awful to watch it attack my little sister. I thought it would maul her to death – it was terrifying.

“We live nearby and I ran home to get our parents and they raced to the scene after calling the ambulance.

“The dog like that should never have been left unattended – it is ridiculous that it was allowed to be there with no one controlling it.”

Mum-of-three Monika pointed to daughter Ana’s bite marks and heavily-bandaged arm, saying she will need about eight stitches.

But she insisted: “My girl is very brave and strong.

“She is still having nightmares about the attack and is in a lot of pain but thankfully the dog did not get her face and neck.

“It was bad but we know it could have been a lot worse.”

She also described thanking one of the two men who ran to Ana’s aid, when seeing him in hospital.

Monika told him: “Thank you so much – you helped save her life.”

She said: “Unfortunately those men received worse injuries than my daughter.”

Now she wants the dog’s owner to be prosecuted for allegedly allowing it to be “out of control”.

‘WE CAN’T GO ON LIKE THIS’

Meanwhile, Ana hopes to return to school next week and has been bombarded with “get well and best wishes” messages from friends.

Ms Braverman shared footage of the attack on X/Twitter on Sunday while announcing she wanted to outlaw American XL bully dogs.

The animals have been linked to nine deaths – including three children – since 2021.

The home secretary labelled XL bully dogs as “a clear and lethal danger to our communities, particularly to children”.

She added: “We can’t go on like this. I have commissioned urgent advice on banning them.”

West Midlands Police said of the Birmingham attack: “The dog was initially taken to a local vet to be checked over before being taken into secure kennels.

“The owner of the dog has been spoken to by officers.”

The force confirmed this afternoon the schoolgirl victim had been discharged from hospital.

The dog previously attacked an elderly woman just a week before, police are said to have told a witness to the triple horror.

Local resident Anita Goodhall, 48, told of her 20-year-old son Reece still feeling still “traumatised” after seeing the attack.

And she said: “What happened was atrocious and should never have been allowed to happen.

“My son witnessed the attack as he was travelling on a bus on Saturday afternoon and when he later spoke to officers they told him that same dog had been involved in another attack last week.

“That poor girl didn’t stand a chance of fighting off an aggressive dog like that.

“It is a problem dog and cops told Reece there had been a previous incident with it attacking an old woman.

“They spoke to the owner after that first attack but they he clearly didn’t listen.”

She told The Sun Online her “shocked” son saw the dog “left unattended on the street and it appeared without a lead”, adding: “The owner had just left it at the bus shelter.

“Suddenly it started attacking a young girl walking past and it wouldn’t let go of her.

“Then a man tried to grab and calm it down but soon after catching it he was bitten and then the dog escaped and ran across the road to a petrol station where another person was mauled.

“My son said it was mayhem out there.”

Anita slammed the owner – whose identity is not known to the public – for leaving the beast unattended.

She said: “You can’t just blame the dog, it’s the owner’s fault who left it alone in the heat and waiting to randomly attack.”

Her neighbour Jonathan Ullah, 37, said he thought the dog should be put down, saying: “It’s attacked four people in the space of a week.

“I hope the Home Secretary sticks to her word and gets this breed reclassified as a dangerous and banned one.”

‘RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES’

Electrician Said Malek, 52, who witnessed the XL bully attack while working at his site next to the petrol station, said: “I heard loud screaming and looked towards the supermarket where a lot of people were frantically running all over the place.

“I could see a little girl lying on the ground with her left arm having been bitten, and she was taken into the shop.

“A passing motorcyclist had been fighting the dog off was also attacked as he tried to muzzle it, and then it ran onto the station forecourt near where I was working.

“Everyone was really worried and running for their lives.

“It was very scary having a mad dog on the loose – it was not that big but looked very aggressive.

“Then a shop owner ran out with a broom and was trying to strike the dog which was running around manically but it turned on him.

“It was an awful thing to see and there was no sign of the owner. The two men were very brave and I just hope the little girl is OK.

“This breed of dog should be banned – there are too many attacks happening up and down the country.

“We’re just thankful there were no fatalities this time.”

Ms Braverman’s ban plans have been backed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, former head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

He told LBC radio: “I think there’s a strong case for banning this breed of dog.

“I want to see what the government is going to put forward – I hope we can do this speedily and constructively.

“I don’t think anybody looking at the footage can simply sit back and say nothing needs to change – clearly there needs to be change.”

XL Bullys are bred from a combination of dogs, predominantly the American pit bull terrier which was made illegal in Britain in 1991.

Campaign group Bully Watch UK has recorded 351 attacks by the breed this year alone.

They say 43 per cent of all maulings by dogs come from large bully animals, despite the breed being a tiny proportion of all UK dogs.

Doug Smith, who runs the group, told The Sun he welcomed the prospect of a ban but said it should be enforced as soon as possible.

He said: “We’re counting down until someone else is killed – each day that goes by, we’re seeing more attacks and we’ve already had far too many.

“The Birmingham attack caught on video was very powerful but many more like that are happening all the time.

“These dogs are bad news and the government needs to get its act together, not just to ban them but also to actually enforce that rather than just applying a sticking plaster.

“Even a delay of a few months could be disastrous.”

‘IRRESPONSIBLE BREEDING AND OWNERSHIP’

Some 22,000 dog attacks causing injury were recorded in England and Wales last year, up by more than a third since 2018 saw 16,000.

Jack Lis, 10, died after being attacked by an eight-stone American bully called Beast in November 2021 in Caerphilly, south Wales.

The dog’s owner Brandon Hayden, then 19, was sentenced in June last year to four years behind bars.

Amy Salter, then 29, was a three-year prison term after the pair admitted being in charge of the out-of-control dog.

A dad Jonathan Hogg, 37, was mauled to death in May this year by an American bully XL in Leigh, Greater Manchester.

Natasha Johnson, 28, was killed by dogs that same month while walking a pack – her own American bully XL reportedly among them – in Caterham in Surrey.

An inquest in April was told how Ian Symes, 34, died in Fareham, Hampshire, with “catastrophic” neck injuries after being mauled by a 52kg XL Bully dog bought on Snapchat.

And last week mum Katie Deere described sacrificing her own arm to save her daughter from an XL bully in Askern in South Yorkshire.

But pet charities has opposed the idea of whole-breed bans while also calling for ministers to overhaul the Dangerous Dogs Act introduced 32 years ago.

That already outlaws four breeds – pit bull terriers, Japanese Tosas, Dogo Argentinos and Fila Brasileiros.

The Dog Control Coalition is an alliance of groups including the RSPCA, the British Veterinary Association and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

They say putting dog breeds on the banned list will cause more to be destroyed purely due to the way they look, without tackling “root causes” of aggressive and dangerous behaviour.

A spokesperson said: “Sadly, the increased popularity of American XL bullies has made them valuable commodities, resulting in irresponsible breeding, rearing and ownership, which can all contribute to an increased likelihood of aggression in dogs, regardless of breed.

“The view of all leading animal charities is that the solution is not banning more types.

“Instead, the government needs to focus on the improvement and enforcement of current breeding and dog control regulations, and on promoting responsible dog ownership and training.”