Dog attack: Five-year-old girl loses ear ‘after being mauled’

A YOUNG girl has lost her right ear after allegedly being attacked by a dog in Asturias.

According to Spanish media, the incident took place as the five-year-old played with a ball at the door of her house while her mother and grandmother talked with a neighbour.

As they talked, the neighbour’s dog allegedly, “without barking or growling, bit the girl,” according to her mother.

The child reportedly tried to defend herself, putting her arms around her head, but the animals “bit her right ear and pierced her skull with its fangs.”

The two women said they were eventually able to wrestle the dog off the child.  According to the mother: “If we had not been able to get in between them it would have killed her.”

The girl was taken to the Central University Hospital of Asturias where she underwent several tests, “to verify that she had not suffered brain damage.”

Her ear was later removed due to necrosis and she remained hospitalised for three weeks.

The girl’s family claimed during that time, the neighbour, “walked the dog around town.”  The mother told one publication: “It could have bitten someone else.”

The animal was later reportedly declared as potentially dangerous by a veterinarian and put it down.

A court case has since been filed by the girl’s family.