Three-year-old killed by dog as number of bite injuries rises

A three-year-old boy has died in Essex after being attacked by a dog. He was taken to hospital with severe injuries yesterday afternoon but failed to survive.

The attack took place at the boy's home. Witnesses saw a man dragging a dog with a bloody mouth from the house and called the police. According to the Daily Mail, the animal is "understood to be either a white boxer or pitbull terrier".

A 29-year-old woman was arrested at the scene and is accused of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control, injuring a person. Detectives are questioning her today.

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Neighbour Phyllis Younger told the Suffolk Free Press: "I heard screaming and thought maybe it was children having some fun and then I thought, 'It is quite a lot of screaming.'

"I wondered if it was teenagers having a fight. Then it went quiet and after ten minutes, the police turned up and people were in the street. I was awake in the middle of the night and all I could think about was those screams.

"I can't believe something like that happened in the road. I didn't know the couple; they only moved here recently."

Scott Howell, the neighbour who called the police, told the paper: "They have only had the dog about a week because we heard it barking. It was a very big dog with short white fur. It looked like a pitbull.

"I heard this terrible screaming and thought it was kids playing in the garden, but then I thought, 'This is going on a bit too long.' I went to my parents' bedroom window facing the house and that is when I saw the man dragging the dog out."

"That is when I thought, 'I need to call the police.' As I was describing what was happening to the police, I saw a woman come out of the house and she was holding a very bloody child in her arms."

The incident comes days after a 52-year-old man was attacked by a dog in the street in Huddersfield. He later died from his injuries.

Earlier this month, the RSPCA said more bites are being reported than ever before, despite 25 years of the Dangerous Dogs Act. From March 2014 to February 2015, there were 7,227 admissions for bites or attacks, up 76 per cent since the equivalent period a decade ago.

The RSPCA is opposed to what it calls "breed-specific legislation" - rules that classify certain breeds of dog as more dangerous than others - and instead would like the focus to be on problem owners, educating children and researching why dogs bite.