Girl, 2, has chunk of her nose bitten off by dog on trip to rescue centre
A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl had a chunk of her nose bitten off by a dog while on a trip to a rescue centre.
Alice Eady was attacked by the small cross-breed that was “running loose” while her family was looking to adopt a dog at the AA Dog Rescue Centre in Latchingdon, Essex.
Olivia Frances-Snook, Alice’s mum, turned to fill out paper for their own dog to take home when her little girl was savaged by the pooch.
The dog sprinted over and jumped on the toddler before biting off part of her nose in June last year.
The 22-year-year-old said: “We went there to rehome a dog after we saw one on their website and came across one of their dogs.
“After toing and froing, we went to view the dog but when we got there the dog wasn’t there but they said we could look around at their other dogs.
“When it happened I was filling out paperwork because we had seen a dog we wanted to rehome.
“There were dogs running around and they had been put away a couple of times and someone put them away.
“Someone had let them back out again and one of them approached my daughter and she turned around to say hi and it just jumped at her.”
‘SHE’S MISSING PART OF HER FACE’
Little Alice, who is now three, cried out in pain as her horrified mum rushed to her aid.
The mum of three continued: “I just felt shocked. I didn’t know how bad it was.
“My partner Zach was shouting: ‘She’s missing part of her face.’
“We took her outside and there was so much blood I couldn’t see how bad it was.
“One person threw a towel over her and said she was fine. Someone else came up to us and said she might need a tetanus.
“A small triangle of her nose was taken off and the hospital said they were going to clean it up.
“Alice wasn’t being a nuisance, she was well-behaved and didn’t provoke the dog.”
The parents rushed their toddler to the hospital, but were allowed home that night.
They took her back the next day so a doctor could check on her, who said the wounds needed stitching.
The parents were later told their little girl might need reconstructive surgery.
She will still say: ‘I love dogs mummy’ but if she sees a dog she won’t go up to them. If she hears barking she cries
Olivia Frances-Snook
Olivia said: “She just had a face full of stitches, it was awful to see her like that.
“Because her cartilage was showing they had to stitch it up.”
The family later learned the dog belonged to Karen Jones, one of the owners of the rescue centre.
She added there weren’t any signs to say families and young children could not visit the rescue centre and that she would have never let Alice pet a dog she didn’t know.
After the attack, Alice is now terrified of dogs and is reduced to tears if she hears barking.
Her mum said: “She will still say: ‘I love dogs mummy’ but if she sees a dog she won’t go up to them. If she hears barking she cries.
“My mum has four dogs and Alice has grown up around them but she’s slightly wary of them now. One time they starting barking and she screamed and cried.”
James, 49, of Latchingdon, admitted to owning a dog out of control which caused injury at Chelmsford Magistrates Court on October 15, 2018.
She received a 12 month community order for being the owner of a dog out of control which caused injury at Chelmsford Crown Court on January 4, 2019.
She was also made to pay £250 in compensation, £85 for the victim surcharge and was made subject to a condition of residence.
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AA Dog Rescue today denied claims the dog attack happened at its centre in Latchingdon, despite court documents and the girl’s parents stating that was the location.
The rescue centre insisted the company had moved sites and people attended their old Latchingdon site by mistake.
They said the incident happened on a “private site with a private dog” and had “nothing to do” with the business.
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