Bonnie, the brave pitbull, saved her owner in a violent mugging that occured in a public toilet in Shannon, New Zealand. Several years ago, a young pitbull-staffordshire terrier cross named Bonnie, was credited by her owner for saving her from a hold-up when she bit the female attacker who had stabbed her owner in the thigh with a pocket knife.

The victim, who did not want to be named, was walking Bonnie when she needed to use the facilities on Balance Street. Bonnie went into the cubicle with her. When the woman came out of the toilet there was another woman standing in front of her. "She was in the other toilet when I was in there and when I came out she was standing there confronting me as I opened the door,” described the victim. "I was sh*t scared."

The attacker demanded her belongings and the woman did what she was told and handed over $30 and three bottles of medication with her name and address on the labels. "She told me to 'empty my f****n pockets'”. At this point a scuffle ensued and the attacker stabbed her in the right thigh with a pocket knife. Bonnie sensed her owner was in trouble and bit the attacker's arm who then fled the toilets, but not before telling her 'you're gonna get it now you f****n bitch'.

"I really think I would have been stabbed more than what I was," said Bonnie’s owner. "Bonnie sensed my fear I think and she acted on it, I'm so proud of her."

At first, the woman did not feel the knife pierce her skin. It wasn't until she saw blood seeping from her wound that she realized what had happened. She limped down to the nearby, unattended police station and rang the buzzer that connects to the Levin and Foxton stations. But it wouldn't ring through, so she limped around the corner to her home where her husband immediately called an ambulance. She left Palmerston North Hospital with "three or four [stitches] on the outside but they stitched up the inside too".

Rumors immediately began to circulate that Bonnie would be put down because Bonnie should have been muzzled, in keeping with the city’s bylaw. Police and animal control quashed those fears. "If I had a muzzle on her…she wouldn't have been able to protect me. I've never seen that side of her until last night. I've already spoken to animal control about it because there was a rumor going around town. The police said that it was not going to happen.”

• Pit Bull
• staffordshire terrier
• life saver
• New Zealand