Girl, 3, in hospital after attack by husky

A three-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after she was attacked by a dog in Co Clare on Saturday.

The incident happened at around 2.00pm near Ballynacally, about 16km from Ennis, and was the second time in three weeks a young child has been attacked by a husky dog in the Mid-West.

Earlier this month in Limerick, two-year-old Reece O’Leary from Carew Park was hospitalised after being seriously injured when he was attacked by the family’s husky.

In the latest incident on Saturday, the 3-year-old girl was walking across the garden at the family home with some other children when, without warning, the usually placid dog attacked her.

The child sustained a number of serious injuries and was only saved from more serious harm by the older girls who managed to scare the dog away.

It is not clear whether the dog belonged to the injured girl’s family or neighbours.

The child was rushed to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick before being transferred later to Galway University Hospital for further treatment.

ISPCA dog warden for Clare, Mr Frank Coote, confirmed the dog was removed at the request of the family and was put down.

Mr Coote said: “This is the second serious attack in just a few weeks involving this breed of dog but it’s not just huskies that can attack young children. Large dogs and small children just don’t mix and I think myself, that it’s down to jealousy and dogs being unhappy with the attention a child might be getting.”

“After the Limerick incident earlier this month, which I was also called in to deal with, I advised people that large dogs cannot be allowed anywhere near small children. No matter how quiet a dog might appear to be, the potential is always there that it might attack a small child,” Mr Coote said.

“The dog on Saturday showed no signs of aggression or a tendency to attack before the incident and showed no sign of aggression towards me when I went out there.

“This kind of incident will continue to happen and my advice again would be for owners of large dogs, no matter what breed they are, that they be muzzled if they are anywhere near children,” he added.

Mr Coote said that in both incidents, only for there was someone there to stop the attack, one or both children could have been killed. Both animals were destroyed at the request of their owners.