A rescue dog that mauled a four-year-old girl to death was a stray picked up by the local authorities in a park months earlier.
Lexi Branson died in hospital after being attacked by bulldog Mulan in the living room of her home in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, on Tuesday.
Her mother Jodi Hudson frantically tried to pull the dog off her young daughter during the sustained attack and ended up stabbing the animal to death with a kitchen knife in the flat in Rowena Court.
Lexi, who had been off school sick, was taken to Queen Medical Centre, Nottingham, but doctors were unable to save her after the unprovoked attack.
Police said the rescue dog had been with the family for just two months after they got the animal from Willow Rehoming Centre, which shares a site with Orchard Kennels in Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire.
The rehoming centre has a contract with Leicester City Council to provide kennelling for stray dogs.
In a statement, a Leicester City Council spokesman said: “This particular dog was picked up from a park as a stray and handed over to the kennels in August.”
Police said the bulldog was not listed under Section 1 of the Dangerous Dog Act.
Detective Superintendent David Sandall, who is overseeing the investigation, said: “We are continuing our investigation, which will include the history of the dog.”