Megan Fortune had to have 12 stitches and was left traumatised after the savage attack at her grandmother's home in Suffolk.
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| Megan is pictured here recovering in the hospital after the attack which happened at her grandmother's house |
But because the attack happened on private land, the law deems no offence was committed, so its owner will not be brought to justice.
Currently owners can only be prosecuted if a dog attack occurs on public land as opposed to private property but this is set to change under new rules proposed by Defra, the government's environment agency.
The girls mother, Elizabeth Fortune, 25, is demanding an immediate change in the law.
She said: 'I just find it hard to believe that a dog can do that, let alone to a child, and there are no repercussions.'
The dog, believed to be a Rottweiler-German Shepherd cross, bit her while she was staying at her grandmother's home in Felixstowe.
Her grandmother, Mary Hockley, was looking after the dog for a friend when it suddenly mauled the toddler.
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| A painful close-up of Megan's injured eye. She had to have 12 stitches |
Miss Fortune reported the incident to the police but she was told that because the animal was in a private place, no offence had taken place under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
Miss Fortune said: 'I think it's ridiculous. I would absolutely love a change in the law. Even if it said the dog would need to be muzzled near children, I believe there needs to be something changed because I find it amazing a dog can do that and nothing can be done about it.'
She added: 'He has always been a lovely dog. We have had a lot of contact with him over the past four years. He has never shown any sign of aggression which is why it came as such a shock - we were just completely gobsmacked.'
Distraught Megan was taken in agony to Ipswich Hospital and cosmetic surgeons had to be brought in to tend to her wounds.
It took them more than an hour to try and repair the damage.
Megan had to have stitches above and below her eye and on her jaw line and had to stay in hospital overnight.
Megan is now making a good recovery but Miss Fortune said she was traumatised after she was savaged.
She said: 'She knew the dog quite well, I don't think she could understand why he had done that. I worry it could have been so much worse.'
The dog's owner refused to comment.
Animal Welfare Minister, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, told MailOnline: 'Dog attacks are terrible for the victims and we are determined to crack down on people who fail to keep their dogs under control.
'Earlier this year we announced we will be changing the law so that if a dog mauls someone on private property the owner will face prosecution, as already happens in public areas.'
In June a two-year-old boy was 'ripped to pieces' by a Staffordshire bull terrier.
The attack was so brutal that the toddler, Kieron Guess, was critically ill and in an induced coma after undergoing surgery for seven hours.
The dog owner, Garfield King, was not charged under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
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| Megan smiles bravely as she recovers from the traumatic incident |
Wiltshire Police said that because the dog was in a privately owned garden at the time of the incident, the Act did not apply.
And in April a five-year-old girl was left scarred for life after she was attacked by an Alsatian.
Abbie Varrow, from Essex, was jumping up and down on a trampoline close to a fence at a friend’s house when the dog leapt up from a neighbour’s garden and seized her face in its jaws.
The attack lasted a matter of seconds but it took surgeons two hours to close the wounds with 60 stitches. The nerves in her nose have been damaged.
Alyson Varrow, her mother said at the time she wanted the dog's owners brought to justice. She called for a return to dog licensing, which was abolished in the UK in 1987.
(Daily Mail UK - August 30, 2012)
