A seven-month-old girl has died from "serious" head injuries after falling victim to a tragic attack by her own pet dog on Father's Day.
Emergency services had rushed to a property in Coventry just after 3pm on Sunday, West Midlands Police said, and despite rushing the infant - the family's only child - to hospital, medics were unable to save her.
In another tragic turn for the family, the pet - which was not a classified dangerous dog - had to be removed and humanely destroyed after the attack.
No arrests have been made relating to the attack.
The girl's parents have reportedly still not returned to their home on Shorncliffe Road - and their neighbours have paid tribute to the family's "horrendous" loss.
The girl's parents have reportedly still not returned to their home on Shorncliffe Road
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One Shorncliffe Road resident said: "It's horrendous - and on Father's Day as well.
"They are a lovely couple and this is such a shame... The baby was their first child, and she seemed a sweet girl.
"They seemed very happy, and will be absolutely crushed by this. I can't imagine anything worse. To lose a baby in this way is just heartbreaking."
While another added: "It's just awful. This is just a normal, quiet road and you never in a million years would think something like this would happen here."
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Emergency services descended on the leafy Shorncliffe Road
More residents have come forward to detail what they saw on that fateful Father's Day; an elderly woman who lives just a few doors down from the scene of the attack said a trio of police cars and an ambulance had descended on Shorncliffe Road in the aftermath of the incident.
She added: "It's heartbreaking. Absolutely tragic. Nothing like that should happen to anyone."
Another claimed the family had a "big dog" but said she didn't see anything except the emergency vehicles.
While one more said: "They're not there, no one has been there for ages, not since Sunday... They've not come back. I've never seen the dog, we didn't hear anything."
A West Midlands Police statement read: "A baby has tragically died after being bitten by a pet dog at a home in Coventry.
"We were called to a property at Shorncliffe Road shortly after 3pm on Sunday. Together with our ambulance colleagues we arrived within minutes. A seven-month-old baby girl had received serious injuries to her head after being bitten by the family's dog inside the home.
"She received treatment at the scene by paramedics before being rushed to hospital for further treatment. Tragically, she died a short time later. Our thoughts remain with her family at this devastating time.
"We are in the early stages of our investigation and our enquiries are continuing."
Police have asked anyone with any information which could be of use to contact them via 101, quoting log 2407 of June 16.
