A man has been arrested after a dog seriously mauled a three-year-old girl in Liverpool, police said.

The animal bit the child’s face near the Market Tavern pub in Kirkby on Saturday.

She was rushed to hospital after the “horrific” attack where she was treated for “serious but not life-threatening” injuries, police said.

Officers seized the animal at the scene and arrested a 31-year-old man thought to be the owner on suspicion of affray and having a dog dangerously out of control.

Chief Inspector Jim Wilde of Merseyside Police said: “This was a horrific attack which has left a young girl receiving hospital treatment for significant injuries to her face.

“I want to reassure people that she is currently receiving the best possible care and treatment for her injuries at Alder Hey, and we hope she makes a speedy recovery.

“We seized the dog at the scene, which will now be humanely destroyed, and extensive efforts are now under way to establish exactly what happened.

“I want to appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident, who may have information which could help us with our investigation, to come forward as soon as possible.

“You may even live locally and have CCTV, or have been passing in a vehicle and captured dashcam footage – if so, we want to hear from you.

“This case highlights in the starkest terms the potential dangers of dogs and I would appeal to anyone with information about dangerous dogs in their area to contact us so that we can take proactive action.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting incident reference 23000831583.