Tot mauled by terrier
A TODDLER was rushed to hospital after being bitten in the face by a savage dog.
Two-year-old Archie Besau, of Wakefield Road, Lupset, suffered horrific injuries after being mauled by a Patterdale Terrier belonging to his mum's friend on Saturday.
But the owner of the dog has refused to put the beloved family pet down - despite admitting it has attacked several times before.
And because the incident happened in the owner's home police say they cannot get involved.
Distraught mum Rachel Besau, 24, said her little boy had wandered from the living room to the kitchen where the dog was sleeping, when they heard the screams.
She said: "Suddenly we could hear the dog attacking him and he screamed out. It was horrific, his lip was practically hanging off. He was still screaming his head off in the ambulance.
"Normally a dog would get put down for biting a person but the police told me they can't do anything as it was in its own house. It's disgusting.
"If it had been a person that had bitten Archie it would all be different. It seems dogs have more rights than humans do."
Owner Shelley McTiernan, of Lupset, said she took the dog, called Dave, to the RSPCA this week with her daughter - but when they got there they could not bear to have it put down.
Instead she has given it to a local family without children.
She said: "He's a lovable dog and I treated him like a baby. My children are heartbroken and emotionally we just couldn't put him down.
"But I'm absolutely devastated and mortified by this tragic accident.
"I always make sure the dog is in the kitchen when children are around. But Archie wandered off unsupervised and disturbed him while he was sleeping."
Insp Sally Fryer, of the northwest neighbourhood police team (NPT), said the bite was not considered an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. She said: "If the dog had run out of its owners' house and bitten someone it would have been an offence."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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