'Justice for Archie' posters appear across Peterborough as dog killed and owner seriously injured in savage attack by 'dangerous' dogs

On September 12, Przemek Bednarczyk was walking with his dog Archie (a Hungarian Vizsla) , in the fields close to Bretton Crematorium, when both were suddenly attacked by three dogs off their leads.

Archie did not survive the attack while Przemek had to have emergency surgery on his thumb and wrist and has only just returned to work (October 16) after just over a month. Vets carried out a number of surgeries on Archie but were sadly not able to save his life.

Describing his ordeal, Przemek said: “I was just out for Archie with a casual walk and it got to about 7:30pm and we were in the middle of the field, I noticed a van in the corner and a man with three big dogs off leash. I put Archie on leash but once I put my head up, I saw him start sprinting towards his van.

"In the next moment, he fell over and then one of the dogs came towards us. I could tell he was not friendly, he came straight for Archie’s legs and started fighting and then the other two ran across and joined in.

“For about ten minutes, I was fighting them off. I was doing everything I could. Their owner started throwing stones at them. I then managed to get to Archie to take off his leash and let him get away and started whipping the other dogs with it.

“I managed to lift the white and grey dogs and passed him to his owner but then still had to try and get rid of the other two. We managed to get away and call the ambulance the the police.

“We transferred Archie from the emergency vets in Werrington to Cambridge. They did a surgery to make him stable and, after 48 hours, there were signs of improvement but then we were told there was a complication and he took a turn for the worse. There was nothing they could do and we had to have him put down.

"I had to have plastic surgery on my thumb and wrist the following day after the incident to put it back together.”

Off the back of this incident, concerned dog walkers who knew Archie and have heard the story of his death have come together to form the ‘Justice for Archie’ campaign.

Residents may have noticed posters bearing the slogan across the city, including close to the attack site, on the A47 and on Rhubarb Bridge, close to the city centre.

These have been created separate to Przemek and his wife Juta to raise awareness of the incident and urge any witnesses to come forward and action from the police.

As displayed on the posters, anyone with information should call 101 and quote the crime reference number: 35/6931/25.

Prezemek added: “We are disappointed that things are taking so long. We have had members of the public get in touch to match the van, the dogs and their owner to the police.

“We don’t want to think that this could happen to someone else.

"Those three dogs need to be gone as they will kill someone. I was there and I was them. I can’t forgive the owner because he knew they were aggressive and that’s why he ran. He didn’t even have a leash on them.

“Dogs on dogs attacks are not taken seriously enough. The fortunate/unfortunate thing is that I got hurt as well. If I didn’t, I don’t know if anything would have happened.

"It is not just me that is getting frustrated. The posters are not even me and we wife, this is people that know us and Archie. They do not feel safe walking around with their dogs. People are worried.

"For me, if it was my wife in that situation, I think it’s very possible Archie would have died there and then and I’m not sure what would have happened to her. If there was children there, it doesn’t bear thinking about.”

In total, the couple from Ravensthorpe were hit with a £14,000 vet bill for the surgery. It is hoped that insurance will cover the £5,000 maximum claim but friends set up a GoFundMe page to help out in any way they could to pay off the bill. To visit, see www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-support-archies-recovery.