In 2007, 16-year-old Lancashire college student Emily Scott was mauled by a dog at an RSPCA centre. Emily had been on a work experience placement at the animal centre in Preston, where she was cleaning the kennel of a Staffordshire bull terrier cross-breed when it attacked her, leaving the teenager with horrific facial injuries.

Emily was rushed to hospital where she underwent plastic surgery for the severe injuries to her nose sustained in what staff at her college called “a tragic and upsetting incident,” (BBC News, 2007).

Myerscough College had been using the centre for work experience for years, and confirmed that they had carried out thorough health and safety checks and risk assessments. However, they have taken the decision not to send any more pupils to the centre for the time being.

The centre is now under investigation, and the Health and Safety Executive has been informed. Staffordshire bull terrier breeds are not identified in the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act as subject to ownership and breeding restrictions.