A senior surgeon at Alder Hey Children's Hospital said he is treating dog attacks on children every single day.
Dr Christian Duncan, a plastic surgeon at the children's hospital, said he is treating dog attacks on children every day. The surgeon told ITV Granada that he saw the "near decapitation" of a child after they were mauled by a dog at home.
ITV reported the north west has the highest number of hospital admissions for dog attacks in England, with bite injuries tripling in adults in the last 20 years. At the start of this month, nan Ann Dunn was attacked and killed by American bulldogs at a house on St Brigid's Crescent in Vauxhall.
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Paramedics attended the scene but the "one in a million mum" was found dead. Officers seized five American bulldogs that were humanely destroyed following the savage attack. Ms Dunn's death was the second this year, following the tragedy in March where 17-month-old Bella-Rae Birch was killed by the family's pet American bully XL at their St Helens home.
An inquest into the baby's death said Bella-Rae died of head injuries after being rushed to Alder Hey. The family said in a moving tribute: "As a family we would like to thank the community for their support. We would ask that we are now allowed some space and time to try and come to terms with the tragic loss of our much-loved Bella-Rae. She will be sadly missed but never forgotten."
NHS data from earlier this year revealed Knowsley and St Helens were among the top five highest hospital admissions for dog attacks in the country. The data showed a big regional variation in the risk of a dog attack, with people in Merseyside 10 times more likely to require hospital attention for a bite than those in north London.
The two deaths this year were caused by dogs currently not banned in the UK. The Dangerous Dogs Act came into effect in 1991 banning four dog breeds. These are the pitbull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo Argentino, and fila Brasileiro.
Alder Hey Children's Hospital consultant Christian Duncan told ITV: "I have dealt with a near decapitation, a child who was attacked by a dog at home. It is often the face that comes into contact, so cheek bites, prominent parts of the face so loss of parts of the nose, lip and parts of the ear. Defence injuries on the hands are the predominant types of injuries that we deal with."
Dr Duncan added: "A lot of the time these are inappropriate dogs, being kept in inappropriate environments by people who are not educated to look after them."
Dr Sam Gaines, from the RSPCA, said: " Research tells us that breed is not an important or reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour in dogs. It is much more about human behaviour and includes how a dog has been managed as well as whether or not they’ve had their welfare needs provided for and the presence of individuals able to intervene in incidents, which is particularly important with children around."
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