Third dogbite victim within a week

A third child in less than a week has been treated for facial injuries after they were attacked by a dog.

The five-year-old girl was taken to hospital after she was bitten by a dog at a Whangarei house on Friday.

Whangarei police Sergeant Graham Pugh said police were called to the house in the suburb of Tikipunga about 4.30pm.

The girl she received three lacerations to her face, and was taken to Whangarei Hospital. A St John Ambulance spokeswoman said the child's injuries were minor.

The dog, believed to be a bull mastiff, was removed by animal control officers with Environmental Northland and was destroyed, police said.

Further details about the circumstances of the attack and whether the animal was restrained were not available.

The incident follows two cases of children being badly bitten in the face in Auckland in the past week.

On Monday, a five-year-old girl was attacked as she went to pat a German Shepherd-Labrador cross that was on a leash with its owner outside a supermarket in the suburb of Grey Lynn.

She needed surgery to repair her nostril and reattach a piece of skin left hanging from a cheek.

On Thursday, a 10-year-old boy running along the street near his Glen Innes home was chased and bitten by a pitbull terrier. He had 17 stitches inserted for a 2.5cm-wide hole by his lip.

Last August, Auckland City Council said reports of dog bites in its area had fallen 48 per cent in the year to July compared with the previous 12 months.

The council adopted a tough stance on dog control after the high-profile attack on schoolgirl Carolina Anderson in January 2003.

SPCA Auckland chief executive Bob Kerridge said the drop in reported attacks was inevitable given the council's stringent approach.

But he also believed awareness of issues about dog control and safety was increasing among the general public.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)