I WAS very sad to read in the Gazette about a German Shepherd dog biting and injuring a young girl (January 9, 'Girl, three, scarred for life after dog attack').

It is the more awful that it was a very young girl. The trauma and injury to the child and the anguish to the parents are hard to imagine.

People do a charitable thing by adopting a rescue dog and giving it a caring home. However they take a small risk (as do any pet owners) that their kindnesses might backfire.

Of course we all hope the injured child and her parents will, in time, recover as best possible. But I also hope people will not be put off adopting rescue dogs. In most instances such adoptions work out satisfactorily, but all animals are unpredictable at times and occasionally things go wrong.

Fortunately, dog attacks on children are rare, and I suspect that more children are attacked and injured by dangerously out-of-control humans, including those in charge of motor cars.

Tony Fitch

Underbarrow