A FOUR-month-old baby girl is recovering in hospital after having her left ear bitten off by the family puppy.

The baby, who had an operation to repair the damaged ear on Wednesday, was attacked the day before by the 10-week-old cross-bred puppy.

The incident happened on Tuesday night at the family's home in the Woodlands Road area of Gillingham.

The girl was taken by ambulance to Gillingham's Medway Maritime Hospital and later transferred to a specialised unit at The Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead in Sussex.

The incident is being investigatigated by Medway Police. A police spokesman said: "The girl had an operation on Wednesday to repair the damaged ear. It is not known at this stage if surgeons managed to sew the piece which had become detached back on.

"The puppy has not been put down but it has been removed from the family home."

No details of the child's identity have been released.