Dog attack raises adoption issues

A YOUNG girl has been savagely attacked by a bull terrier, which was offered for adoption by an animal refuge despite having eaten its previous owner.

Four-year-old Carmen was playing with Prince at a party with friends of the family in Boulogne-sur-Mer on Saturday night when he snapped, tearing at her nose and an ear.

She was taken to hospital with severe facial injuries. Her condition is not said to be life-threatening.

The dog had come from an animal refuge, where he was admitted last autumn after his owner died at home alone and was not found for a fortnight, by which time the terrier had started to eat the corpse.

Animal welfare charity SPA, which ran the refuge, said Prince was not considered to be a dangerous dog and his actions following his owner's death were an "understandable" survival method.

Local newspaper La Voix du Nord says the dog should have been put down. SPA insists that it did not hide any information about the dog's past from the new owners.

Photo: cynoclub - Fotolia.com