Toddler bitten in dog attack

Kristin Macfarlane | 12th March 2010

A Rotorua toddler has bites to his face and hands after being attacked by a dog.

Rotorua police were called to a Sunset Rd house about 4.40pm yesterday when the 21-month-old boy was attacked by an Australian cattle dog cross on his own property.

The dog belonged to a relative.

The youngster suffered bites to his chin and hands and was taken to Rotorua Hospital for treatment.

Rotorua police Senior Sergeant Dennis Murphy said police were talking to witnesses.

"The 21-month-old child has tried to take a bone from a dog that was on the section," Mr Murphy said.

He said dog control staff were called and were handling the investigation.

Rotorua District Council animal control supervisor Kevin Coutts said the dog was being looked after by a person living at the house.

Mr Coutts said the toddler had tried to take a bone from the dog and the dog snapped.

He said the attack could have been avoided if the child had been supervised properly.

He was unsure whether the child would need stitches.

The dog is in the custody of animal control and they would decide in the next couple of days what to do with it.

However, he said it was probably not the fault of the dog or the child.

The dog attack follows another vicious attack on a child in the Bay of Plenty two months ago.

Maddy Ireton, 5, was viciously savaged by two dogs in Taneatua, near Whakatane, on January 24 while visiting a friend's house.

The dogs, a female American pit bull terrier and a male mastiff pit bull cross, were destroyed.

A plastic surgeon spent 10 hours putting Maddy's body back together again.

She was lucky to survive the attack, which left her with severe cuts to her face, head, neck, arms and legs.

Her father Shaun has said his daughter had a hole between her eyes so deep you could see through to the bone.