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Police are hunting a dog and its owner after it savaged a toddler as she played on a playground roundabout.
The dog leapt a fence before ripping a U-shape wound from two-year-old Destiny Henry-Khan's mouth to her cheek.
The little girl had to have plastic surgery to repair her face but may suffer permanent nerve damage and be scarred for life.
Family friends fought off the violent dog which eventually fled from the park in Birmingham last Saturday.
Police are now trying to track it down. It has been described as a large, brown cross-breed.
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Doctors at Birmingham Children's Hospital carried out a two-hour operation to sew Destiny's face back together. She returned to her Northfield home on Tuesday.
Family friend Hannah Warrilow, 21, told the local paper she watched as the powerful dog pinned Destiny to the ground before savaging the toddler's face:
"I was sitting in the park while Destiny played in the playground and she called out for her juice.
"So as I turned round to get her a drink from my bag I heard this thing growling. I then turned around to see this huge dog on top of her pinning her to the ground chewing at her face. It completely came out of the blue, it all happened in seconds.
"I started screaming and my boyfriend Rickey came running over and gave the dog a couple of kicks and it let go of Destiny and ran off.
"She was just lying there crying so I just scooped her up and put her in the car and drove her to hospital. Her little face was just pouring with blood - it was all over my clothes and my car. It was terrifying.
"She cried all the way to hospital until she saw the nurses. Every time she touched it and it hurt, and she could see the blood, she was in hysterics, but she calmed down eventually. She was a very brave girl."
Destiny's mum, Lauren Henry, 21, received the horrifying news from the friends who were looking after her daughter while she was Christmas shopping in the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham.
She said: "She was playing on the roundabout and the dog just jumped on her face, ripping it from the mouth to the cheek. There was blood everywhere. I thought her nose had gone.
"Just an inch lower and Destiny would not have survived. She is lucky to have escaped with her life.
"I have only ever left her with friends three times and this was the third time, but there was nothing anyone could do. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"My friend said she turned her back on Destiny for just a moment and heard a dog fighting. She turned round to see the dog on Destiny's face.
"When they phoned to tell me, I rushed to hospital fearing the worst. My heart was pounding so fast. I was absolutely devastated because she is such a beautiful girl.
"At first Destiny was heartbroken, but the nurses were so good to her. I can't fault them. She is now back to her normal self and that is down to them."
Lauren said she does not blame the dog for attacking her daughter.
She said: "I blame the owner, who wasn't there."
Police are now conducting door-to-door enquiries to try to trace the dog and its owner.