The neighbour’s dog lunged at Haley Turner and tore a gaping wound in her cheek.
With blood pouring from her face she was taken to hospital where doctors spent 90 minutes stitching the horrendous wound.
She is now back at home but may need skin grafts and could have a small scar on her cheek for life.
The dog was not put down as it was not deemed to constitute a danger, a decision Haley’s mother condemned yesterday.
Julie Turner, 29, said: ‘It’s awful. We were initially in shock but now I feel angry and upset. My little girl has changed before my eyes because of this.’ She said the attack had left Haley withdrawn, shaken and no longer her ‘bubbly little girl’.
Mrs Turner, of Otley, West Yorkshire, is now campaigning for a change to the law.
Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 it is an offence to allow a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place, or in a private place where it is not allowed to be. But this does not apply to private land where the dog belongs.
If the animal is on its own property and bites someone, police are not required to take action unless the injury is severe or the dog is thought to be a danger to others.
In Haley’s case, officers will take no further action after deciding the injury could only be classified as minor, and the incident took place on private property.
Mrs Turner said: ‘We want dog licences brought back. We also want the law changed so it extends wherever the dog is, even if it’s on its own property. Any dog who bites a child should be put down.’
The attack happened as Haley and her sister Ella, seven, were playing in the neighbour’s garden. Mrs Turner said: ‘Ella came in screaming that Haley had been bitten. We rushed round and the dog’s owner was holding a tea towel to Haley’s face. The first thing she said was ‘‘It’s a mess’’.’
Mrs Turner and her partner Neil Choppen, 29, took Haley to Leeds General Infirmary where she had emergency surgery.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: ‘In more serious cases the law does allow for us to take more stringent action, but that does not fit with this incident.’
Police Tasered and shot dead a dog which nipped two people. One, 12-year-old Sydni Ryan, suffered a graze on her shin from her friend’s Staffordshire bull terrier collie cross and was advised to inform police.
She was horrified when officers arrived in four cars and Tasered the pet called Maddie. It ran off towards a park in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, where officers decided to shoot it to protect the public.
(Daily Mail UK - April 10, 2012)
