Dog owner escapes 起訴 after girl, four, is savaged by Rottweiler because attack happened on 私的な land

• Megan Fortune had to have 12 stitches and was left traumatised
  
• Attack happened in her grandmother's home - on 私的な 所有物／資産／財産
• 法律 現在／一般に only covers dog attacks on public 所有物／資産／財産
  

By Larisa Brown for the Daily Mail

Published: 09:48 BST, 30 August 2012 | Updated: 11:45 BST, 30 August 2012

A dog owner has escaped 起訴 after their Rottweiler mauled a four-year-old girl's 直面する.

Megan Fortune had to have 12 stitches and was left traumatised after the savage attack at her grandmother's home in Suffolk.

But because the attack happened on 私的な land, the 法律 みなすs no offence was committed, so its owner will not be brought to 司法（官）.

残酷に savaged: Megan Fortune, 4, had to have 12 stitches after a Rottweiler attacked her in the 直面する but the dog's owner will not 直面する 起訴

Poor girl: Megan is pictured here 回復するing in hospital after the attack which happened while she was staying at her grandmother's house

現在／一般に owners can only be 起訴するd if a dog attack occurs on public land as …に反対するd to 私的な 所有物／資産／財産 but this is 始める，決める to change under new 支配するs 提案するd by Defra, the 政府's 環境 機関.

The girls mother, Elizabeth Fortune, 25, is 需要・要求するing an 即座の change in the 法律.

She said: 'I just find it hard to believe that a dog can do that, let alone to a child, and there are no repercussions.'

The dog, believed to be a Rottweiler-Ger man Shepherd cross, bit her while she was staying at her grandmother's home in Felixstowe.?

Her grandmother, Mary Hockley, was looking after the dog for a friend when it suddenly mauled the toddler.

A painful の近くに-up of Megan's horrifically 負傷させるd 注目する，もくろむ. She had to have 12 stitches

行方不明になる Fortune 報告（する）／憶測d the 出来事/事件 to the police but she was told that because the animal was in a 私的な place, no offence had taken place under the Dangerous Dogs 行為／法令／行動する.

行方不明になる Fortune said: 'i think it's ridiculous. I would 絶対 love a change in the 法律.

'Even if it said the dog would need to be muzzled 近づく children, I believe there needs to be something changed because I find it amazing a dog can do that and nothing can be done about it.'

She 追加するd: 'He has always been a lovely dog. We have had a lot of 接触する with him over the past four years.

'He has never shown any 調印する of 侵略 which is why it （機の）カム as such a shock - we were just 完全に gobsmacked.'

Distraught Megan was taken in agony to Ipswich Hospital and cosmetic 外科医s had to be brought in to tend to her 負傷させるs.

It took them more than an hour to try and 修理 the 損失.

Megan had to have stitches above and below her 注目する，もくろむ and on her jaw line and had to stay in hospital 夜通し.

Megan is now making a good 回復 but 行方不明になる Fortune said she was traumatised after she was savaged.

She said: 'She knew the dog やめる 井戸／弁護士席, I don't think she could understand why he had done that. I worry it could have been so much worse.'

The dog's owner 辞退するd to comment.

Animal 福利事業 大臣, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, told MailOnline: 'Dog attacks are terrible for the 犠牲者s and we are 決定するd to 割れ目 負かす／撃墜する on people who fail to keep their dogs under 支配（する）／統制する.

'Earlier this year we 発表するd we will be changing the 法律 so that if a dog mauls someone on 私的な 所有物／資産／財産 the owner will 直面する 起訴, as already happens in public areas.'

In June a two-year-old boy was 'ripped to pieces' by a Staffordshire bull terrier.

The attack was so 残虐な that the toddler, Kieron Guess, was 批判的に ill and in an induced 昏睡 after を受けるing 外科 for seven hours.

The dog owner, Garfield King, was not 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d under the Dangerous Dogs 行為／法令／行動する.

Wiltshire Police said that because the dog was in a 個人として owned garden at the time of the 出来事/事件, the 行為／法令／行動する did not 適用する.

And in April a five-year-old girl was left scarred for life after she was attacked by an Alsatian.

Abbie Varrow, from Essex, was jumping up and 負かす／撃墜する on a trampoline の近くに to a 盗品故買者 at a friend’s house when the dog leapt up from a 隣人’s garden and 掴むd her 直面する in its jaws.

The attack lasted a 事柄 of seconds but it took 外科医s two hours to の近くに the 負傷させるs with 60 stitches. The 神経s in her nose have been 損失d.

Alyson Varrow, her mother said at the time she 手配中の，お尋ね者 the dog's owners brought to 司法（官）.
She called for a return to dog licensing, which was 廃止するd in the UK in 1987.

Feeling better: Megan, 権利, and her mother Elizabeth nurses her better, left. Elizabeth wants a change in the 法律 to stop dog attacking anyone else

Bruised: Megan smiles bravely as she 回復するs from the traumatic 出来事/事件

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ABOUT DOG ATTACKS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY?

Rottweiler-German Shepherd cross: The same 産む／飼育する of dog that attacked four-year-old Megan

Under the Dangerous Dogs 行為／法令／行動する 1991, dog owners cannot be 起訴するd if their animal attacks someone on 私的な 所有物／資産／財産.

This has raised 論争, 特に when it comes to the 事例／患者 of police officers who are attacked by dogs when making an 逮捕（する） in a 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う’s home and the owner escapes 起訴.

郵便の 労働者s, nurses and social 労働者s, who are all 合法の する権利を与えるd to be on 私的な 所有物／資産／財産, are also 影響する／感情d by the 支配するs.

現在／一般に, the 法律 says only owners can only be 起訴するd if a dog attack occurs on public land, not in places such as in family homes.

Four children and one adult were killed in dog attacks in 私的な homes between 2007 and 2010.

The number of 傷害s has more than 二塁打d from 2,915 in 1997 to 6,118 in 2010.

The Communication 労働者s Union 開始する，打ち上げるd a ‘Bite 支援する’ （選挙などの）運動をする to raise 認識／意識性 of responsible dog 所有権 and to 保護する 犠牲者s attacked on 私的な 所有物／資産／財産 in 2008.

現在の 法律s will be changed however to cover attacks on 私的な 所有物／資産／財産.

Under new 支配するs 提案するd by Defra, the 環境 機関, but not yet put in 軍隊, 法廷，裁判所s will have the 力／強力にする to 刑務所，拘置所 dog owners for two years or 課す a £5,000 罰金 if animals 原因（となる） 傷害s while '危険に out of 支配（する）／統制する' in their own homes.

A Defra 広報担当者 told MailOnline: 'It is fully our 意向 to 延長する the 法律 to 含む 私的な 所有物／資産／財産. We are hoping to make a その上の 告示 soon.'

A date has not yet been 始める，決める for the 提案s to be 器具／実施するd.