Brigitte Bardot has slammed a new law in Geneva requiring that all dogs be muzzled in public parks, adopted after a toddler was mauled by a ‘pit bull-type’ dog.

‘I don't think that a Yorkshire Terrier or a lapdog presents a great danger to the population,’ Bardot told the daily newspaper Tribune de Geneve.

The Geneva government's decision to require compulsory muzzling of the city's 30,000 dogs has sparked public outrage, and calls for measures to restrain only bull-breed-type dogs.

The Geneva toddler has undergone five operations and remains hospitalised after being disfigured after being attacked by a dog – alleged to be a ‘pit bull’ in August. The incident followed nationwide shock last year when a Turkish boy was attacked and killed by a dog near Zurich.