Boy bitten in head by XL bully dog in Bootle, police sayon February 11, 2024 at 10:19 am

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

The eight-year-old is in a serious condition in hospital after being attacked in a block of flats.

abandoned XL Bully

A boy is being treated in hospital after being bitten in the head by a dog, believed to be an XL bully.

The eight-year-old was attacked in a communal area of flats near Wadham Road, Bootle at about 17:20 GMT on Saturday, Merseyside Police said.

He was taken to hospital where he is in a stable but serious condition.

A 49-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man, who are not related to the child, have been arrested, while the dog has been seized by police.

The pair were detained on suspicion of being a person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury.

They have been taken into police custody for interviews.

Wadham Road, Bootle

Image source, Google

Officers said they had spoken to witnesses and appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

Det Insp Gary Stratton, from Merseyside Police, said: “I want to reassure people that [the boy] is receiving the best possible care and treatment for his injuries, which are described as life-changing.”

New rules for owning American XL bully dogs have recently come into force in England and Wales, and will be implemented in Scotland later this year.

It is illegal to own one without an exemption certificate, and registered dogs must be kept on a lead and muzzled in public.

Det Insp Stratton said: “We have seized the dog and extensive efforts are underway to establish exactly what happened.

“This case highlights in the starkest terms the potential dangers of dogs, and I would appeal to anyone with information about dangerous dogs in their area to contact us so that we can take pro-active action.”

Presentational grey line

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
- Advertisement -

Discover

Sponsor

Latest

Afghanistan: UK embassy staff allege Taliban beatings and tortureon June 16, 2022 at 4:43 am

More than 150 ex-embassy workers are in Afghanistan - some say they've been beaten and tortured.More than 100 men who worked at the British...

Tennis in 2023: What can Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic & Emma Raducanu expect?on December 28, 2022 at 7:25 am

Before the new season starts, we consider the big tennis questions for 2023 and correspondent Russell Fuller gives his verdict.Before the new season starts,...

AT&T’s cord-cutting problem is accelerating and the worst may be yet to come

AT&T Inc. just saw the largest year-over-year drop yet on a video subscriber metric, according to an analyst, and things could get worse from...

Manchester Arena attack survivor finally ‘happy and healthy’on May 21, 2022 at 6:10 am

Five years on from having to learn how to walk again, Freya Lewis is now preparing for a charity 10k.A teenager who learned to...

Why Nigeria’s lax attitude to names is causing a fusson October 22, 2023 at 3:01 am

Many Nigerians have different names on different documents - which can be problematic for politicians.Many Nigerians have different names on different documents - which...