This is the shocking moment an American Staffordshire Terrier attacks a little girl walking with her mum before a vet comes along at the right time to make it release its bite grip.

The incident took place in the town of Ceuti in the south-eastern Spanish region of Murcia on 18th June.

According to the news site 20 Minutos, the two-year-old girl, named Fatou, was holding her mother’s hand while out walking when the dog pounced.

In the footage, two dogs are seen rounding a corner as the mother lifts the girl to protect her, however, the American Staffordshire Terrier attacks and pins her on the ground.

The mum then tries to drag her daughter away, but the dog apparently has a firm grip on the girl.

In that moment, two women appear, one of them a vet, and she manages to release the dog’s bite grip and pull the animal away from the girl.

Fatima Pelaez, the owner of a nearby veterinary clinic, said she was taking a break when she heard the mother’s screams and “saw that what the dog had in its mouth was a girl”.

Pelaez told local newspaper La Opinion de Murcia: “I tried to hit it with a shoe to see if I could catch its attention, but I thought it was not working out well. My instinctive reaction was to put my hand in the dog’s mouth to open it so it would release the girl.

“I did not worry about injury or a possible attack on me, my priority was to save the girl.”

The vet added: “The face of panic and horror on the mum and girl… I will never be able to erase that image from my mind. I am still shocked.”

According to several eyewitnesses, the dog was not wearing a muzzle at the time of the attack and had gripped the girl by her thigh.

According to reports, the dog belonged to a customer at the veterinary clinic and is currently being kept in quarantine under veterinary supervision by the local authorities.