A dog owner who was savaged by her Rottweilers has said that she is ‘nothing’ without them after both were euthanised following the attack.
Nikita Piil, 31, almost died when her two dogs, Harlem and Bronx, mauled her at her Success home, in the southern suburbs of Perth, on September 16.
Her family later said she was trying to calm the dogs following an incident in the neighbourhood when she unfortunately got caught in the crossfire and was attacked herself.
Ms Piil was raced to hospital with severe injuries to her arm, legs and head and has since undergone at least five life-saving operations.
During the attack, police were forced to shoot Bronx following failed attempts to distract and Taser the dog. He was later euthanised by vets.
About six weeks later, she was asked to surrender Harlem to City of Cockburn’s animal management centre so he could be put down.
Ms Piil has never spoken publicly about the attack, but has quietly turned her social media bios into tributes for her beloved pets in recent weeks.
Nikita Piil (pictured) almost died after she was mauled by her own Rottweilers in Perth
Ms Piil (pictured in hospital) almost lost her arm and has undergone at least five life-saving surgeries
‘Harlem & Bronx, you made me the proudest Rottweiler Mama on the planet,’ Ms Piil wrote in a new update.
‘I am nothing without you.’
Ms Piil had previously updated her bio in January to say that she will never stop loving the dogs, breaking her silence since the vicious attack.
‘My existence is forever altered, irrevocably changed in your absence, I’m broken. Harlem & Bronx,’ she wrote on Facebook.
On Instagram, she said: ‘No words can aptly capture the torment that engulfs my heart.
‘Harlem & Bronx – you made life, worth living. I will never stop loving you.’
She included a wilted rose emoji in all three posts.
Ms Piil only gave Harlem up to the council because she was given an ultimatum – she could either comply with the state’s dangerous dogs requirements or he would be put down.
To keep Harlem, she would have had to have kept him in an escape-proof and child-proof enclosure, place ‘dangerous dog’ signs at property access points, and he would need a leash and muzzle at all times in public areas.
On October 25, the council confirmed Harlem had been euthanised humanely.
Police were alerted on the day the dogs attacked Ms Piil by neighbours who heard her screams at about 4.45pm and tried to help but found were confronted by a dangerous situation.
Nikita Piil quietly updated her Facebook profile (most recent pictured left)
Ms Piil also turned her Instagram bio into a tribute to her dogs (pictured)
One neighbour, Bryn Spencer, said he and another person tried to intervene but couldn’t access Ms Piil’s backyard without putting themselves in danger.
‘I was hearing ‘help, help, please help!’,’ Mr Spencer told Nine News
‘I was contemplating jumping the fence and getting in there to try to rescue her but, obviously, there were two Rottweilers in there.
‘I didn’t have a knife, I didn’t have anything really good to take this dog out.
‘I only had a bat. All I could really do was watch this girl get mauled apart while I am smacking the fence.’
Another neighbour turned a hose on one of the dogs, momentarily distracting it.
‘The dog stopped for a bit and it was looking at me deciding what to do next,’ Mr Spencer said.
‘I kept screaming at it and smacking the fence and then it decided, ‘stuff you’ and it got the girl and dragged her behind the back corner.’
Ms Piil’s oldest dog, Bronx, was shot by police during the attack while her youngest, Harlem, was euthanised (Harlem and Bronx pictured)
Nikita Piil (pictured) was attacked on September 16 and both her dogs were put down
Mr Piil’s family revealed in a GoFundMe post she almost died during her operations.
‘The rehabilitation journey ahead will be painful, long and costly,’ they said.
‘We nearly lost our precious girl a couple of times … but as you all know, Nikita is our little fighter.’
The City of Cockburn had previously received complaints from neighbours over the Rottweilers’ excessive barking, however there were no reported incidents of attacks prior to September 16.
Ms Piil loved Rottweilers and was part of multiple breed-specific groups on Facebook prior to the attack.
She once described Bronx as her ‘whole world – loyal, intelligent and protective’.