An elderly man was attacked by a dog as he stepped in to defend his own pet.
The man in his 70s was bitten several times on his wrist and went to hospital for treatment after the incident in Kew Woods, Southport, at 10am on Thursday.
He had been walking his own dog in the area when a German Shepherd went to bite his pet, before turning on him as he tried to stop the attack, Merseyside Police said.
The German Shepherd and its owner then walked away from the scene through a nearby Dobbie’s garden centre car park.
The victim is now recovering at home, and enquiries are ongoing to locate the dog and its owner, who is described as white man in his 70s.
Appealing for witnesses, Detective Inspector Gavin Mulcahy said: “We are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or knows who the German Shepherd’s owner is to please contact us as a matter of urgency.
“The victim sustained several puncture wounds to his wrist and was in distress. It is imperative that we find the dog so it cannot harm anyone else.”
The appeal comes shortly after Wiltshire police said a man in his 50s had sustained life changing injuries after a dog attack in Swindon on Sunday.
The force said firearms officers were deployed to the area following reports of a dog out of control in a property in Exeter Street at around 4:20pm.
The dog was sedated and secured and the owner, a 24-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of being the owner or person in charge of dog dangerously out of control causing injury.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that more than 20,000 dog attacks were reported to police across England and Wales in the 12 months since the introduction of the XL Bully ban.
The ban was introduced in February last year under a change to the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 after 16 deaths by dog bites in 2023 – more than double the six fatalities in 2022.
There were also 11,000 hospital admissions for dog bites in England in 2023/24.
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