KEY POINTS:
A dog which attacked a five-year-old Greenmeadows girl has been seized by the Napier City Council but her mother is angry the animal was able to chase another child before it acted.
Cathleen Adams' daughter, Emalee, was riding her bike on Easter Monday when the dog, an 11-week-old
pitbull puppy, knocked her to the ground - biting her face dangerously close to her eyes.
Ms Adams said she thought Emalee had fallen off her bike when she was brought home in tears by a neighbour but quickly realised something far more sinister had happened.
"She was covered in blood and had a gash on her face and scratches all over."
The gash was deep and underneath one of her eyes, so the worried mother rushed the distraught girl to Hawke's Bay Hospital, Hastings, where she was put under general anaesthetic.
Emalee needed five stitches to close the wound - but what happened next really upset her family.
Ms Adams said she contacted the Napier City Council the next day to report the attack and gave a statement but heard nothing until April 22 - 14 days after the event.
An animal-control officer came to see Emalee but her attitude about the injuries was "oh, whatever", Ms Adams said.
Emalee wasn't the only local child to face the aggressive pup - Ms Adams said another child had been rescued from the dog last week.
The excuse the officer gave for not impounding the dog wasn't convincing, she said.
"Because it's an 11-week-old puppy they can't do anything. It shouldn't matter how old the dog is, it obviously has a taste for attacking. If it's like this as a puppy, imagine what it will be like fully grown."
Even after the officer came to see Emalee the dog was allowed to stay with its owner until being taken to the pound on Tuesday, Ms Adams said.
"I think that was just because of the story in your paper. They weren't going to do anything."
Hawke's Bay Today reported the attack in Tuesday's edition.
Ms Adams is relieved the dog is no longer loose in her neighbourhood but that doesn't help her previously outgoing girl.
"My daughter is wetting herself. She is scared of everything. She won't go anywhere near her bike and is frightened all the time."
Ms Adams said the council "could have cared less" and she was disappointed and upset Emalee's ordeal was ignored.
"They were just slack."
She had not received an apology from the dog's owner.
Napier City Council chief animal control officer Alan East could not be contacted this morning but said on Tuesday the owner would be prosecuted.
If there was a conviction, a judge could order the puppy's destruction and fine its owner.