NEIGHBOURS rescued a girl from disfigurement or death after a pitbull attacked her and was in the process of chewing on the infant’s face.

Three-year-old Nathalia Jones’s rescuers found her being mauled by the dog near her home on Thursday. She was last night a patient at the San Fernando General Hospital. It took 30 stitches to close the wounds.

Little Nathalia was playing with her cousins when the dog pounced on her.

’The dog grabbed my child’s head and was biting. And when people see this they began pulling away the dog. I still can’t believe I could have lost my baby. I appreciate all those people who helped my daughter,’ her father, Nicholas Jones, said yesterday.

At hospital yesterday, Nathalia’s left eye was barely open and there was a ragged line of stitches on her face and head, her father said.

The incident occurred at Bayshore Road, Marabella, around 2.30 p.m. The child lived a short distance away at Sooknanan Street.

’She went to play with her cousin on the road. The dog was nearby, but it was tied with a long rope. I don’t know what happened, but that is an aggressive dog. My daughter was walking near the dog when it just jump on her,’ he said.

The owner of the pitbull is related to the child’s mother, police said.

’I want something to be done about this. I am not allowing this to go just so. My child is in so much pain. Money cannot make her feel better. The police has to do something about this dog,’ said Jones.

Marabella police have questioned the owner of the dog.

The Dangerous Dogs Act was passed in 2000 under the UNC administration but is yet to be proclaimed.