Sheffield dog attack: Serious injuries as police called in over incident on Skelton Lane, Woodhouse

Police have been called in after a pet dog was left with a serious leg injury after being attacked by another animal in the street.

South Yorkshire Police say the attack was carried out by another dog, which was reported to have been out of control, and also caused an injury to a third dog.

Both the injured pets had been out for a walk with their owner in Woodhouse when the alleged attack happened, at the junction of Skelton Grove and Skelton Lane, and the owner of the 'out of control dog' has been accused of walking away from the scene.

South Yorkshire Police said in a statement: "We were called to reports of a dog attacking two other dogs on Skelton Lane, Sheffield, shortly before 7.40pm on Friday 18 August.

"It is reported that a man was walking two dogs at the junction of Skelton Grove and Skelton Lane when another dog appeared and attacked them.

"It is understood one of the dogs suffered a serious leg injury, with the other suffering a cut to its head. The owner of the dog alleged to be out of control is reported to have then walked away from the scene. An investigation is underway and enquiries are ongoing."

The incident came just a week after an allegedly 'dangerously out of control dog' was shot by police after injuring two people near Firth Park on August 11. One woman told The Star how she had been injured after trying to help the dog after she had spotted it sitting in the middle of the street.

South Yorkshire Police's assistant chief constable, Dan Thorpe, said in June that each year, police saw significant increases in dangerous dog related incidents, adding that the number of incidents had more than doubled in the last five years.

He said: "In 2018, we saw 77 of these incidents and have already seen 180 in the first six months of this year.”

Dr Alan Billings, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, has also raised concerns about the number of dog attacks in South Yorkshire and the UK as a whole.