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ramanth
05-09-2005, 09:33 AM
That poor mother... :( :( And the dogs... :( I just don't understand....

http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/050705/loc_20050507003.shtml

Family dogs maul toddler

Web-posted May 7, 2005

Mother finds girl in back yard after she had gotten out of the house

By ANN ZANIEWSKI
Of The Oakland Press

WATERFORD TWP. - A Waterford Township toddler was mauled to death by two dogs that were longtime family pets.
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The mother of 2-year-old Samantha found her in the back yard of their home in the 2000 block of Oakdale just before 9:30 a.m. Friday. The girl was nonresponsive and later pronounced dead at North Oakland Medical Centers.

"I can only say that the officers described it as horrific," said Waterford Township Police Chief John Dean.

The family's two 5-year-old female huskies, Angel and Nanook, were quarantined in the county animal shelter Friday afternoon. County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said he planned to have the animals destroyed with either the family's permission or a court order. Rabies tests would also be conducted, he said.

"When a 2-year-old child is mauled and disemboweled by two animals, it's a very serious day in this community," he said.

Detectives were still trying to determine what prompted the attack.

Dean said no neighbors have complained to police about the dogs, which weighed 80 and 60 pounds. Samantha weighed 40 pounds.

Dean said the animals were calm when being taken from the house. He said no other dogs were involved.

"There's no history of these dogs being violent in any way," he said.

Dean said it is too early to know whether charges would be filed. The Oakland County Medical Examiner's office plans to conduct an autopsy today.

Dean said the child was last seen at 6:45 a.m. by her 17-year-old aunt before the aunt left for high school. The child's 24-year-old mother awoke and noticed the toddler wasn't in her bedroom. She called 9-1-1 on a cell phone after finding Samantha in the partially fenced back yard.

The toddler's grandparents and a child younger than Samantha also live in the house. Police were uncertain whether the grandparents were home at the time of the attack.

No one else was injured.

Police did not release Samantha's last name or the names of her family members. A police chaplain was called in to help console them.

On Friday afternoon, police were searching the orange-brick ranch with a bay window and an attached garage in the Drayton Woods subdivision.

Dean said the house was secure but has a doggie door large enough for a child of Samantha's size to fit through.

The incident upset even longtime officers, Dean said. Many of the responding officers are parents of young children, he said.

"I had some veteran officers that were pretty shaken up about this," he said.

According to a link on The Siberian Husky Club of Greater Detroit's Web site, the breed is alert, eager to please and has a friendly disposition.

It also warns: "Predatory instincts in the Siberian Husky are strong. While the Siberian is normally gentle and friendly with people and other dogs, owners must be aware that small animals in and around the home, such as squirrels, rabbits, birds, guinea pigs, hamsters and cats, are potential victims of their strong predatory instinct."

A toddler-sized plastic play structure with a slide sat on the house's dandelion-dotted front lawn Friday afternoon. Several plastic trash bins near the street brimmed with garbage.

Neighbors said the people who lived there generally kept to themselves.

Hal Charters, who lives across the street, described the family as "quiet, kind of private people."

"They always seem cordial," said another neighbor, who declined to give her name. "I saw the mother playing outside with her kids a lot."

Another neighbor, who also declined to give his name, said he kind of liked the family's dogs and never noticed any problems with them.

He said they got loose from the back yard only once.

I have a feeling even more people are going to be giving me and Kia a wide berth when we take walks now. :(

elizabethann
05-09-2005, 10:02 AM
How tragic. So sad.

lizbud
05-09-2005, 11:01 AM
I can't understand how the mom could have slept through
all the commotion that must have gone on. You can never be
to vigilant with a small child. This could have started out as play
and ended tragically. Poor child. :(

For every bad story, there is also an amazing one;


Nursing Dog Saves Abandoned Baby In Kenya

POSTED: 9:31 am EST May 9, 2005

NAIROBI, Kenya -- A stray dog saved the life of a newborn baby after finding the abandoned infant in a forest and apparently carrying it across a busy road and through some barbed wire to her litter of puppies, witnesses said.

The stray dog found the infant, clad in tattered clothing, in a poor neighborhood near the Ngong Forests in the capital of Nairobi, Stephen Thoya told the independent Daily Nation newspaper.

The dog apparently found the baby Friday in the plastic bag in which the infant had been abandoned, said Aggrey Mwalimu, owner of the shed where the animal was guarding its puppies. The seven-pound, four-ounce infant was taken to the hospital for treatment on Saturday.

"She is doing well, responding to treatment, she is stable. ... She is on antibiotics," Kenyatta National Hospital spokeswoman Hanna Gakuo told The Associated Press from the hospital, where health workers called the infant Angel.

Kenya's media often report the abandonment of newborns by mothers. Poverty and the inability to care for the child are seen as the root cause of the problem. Most people who abandon babies are never caught.

The child had not yet been claimed.

"Abandoned babies are normally taken to the Kenyatta National Hospital because it is a public hospital," Gakuo said. "People are now donating diapers and baby clothes for this one."

Pit Chick
05-09-2005, 12:30 PM
I agree with you lizbud. Having a toddler that young, you should know their schedule like when they wake up, which means you better be up too. I read this article on another forum and it was called a "tragic accident" and I also agree with the comment someone made about that: "it was a 'tragic accident', but if it was a Pit Bull or Rottweiler, it would have been a 'vicious attack'."

I think the dogs saw something crawling through the dog door and thinking it was another animal they went after it.

ramanth
05-09-2005, 12:56 PM
Thanks for that story Liz. :)

crsvstang
05-09-2005, 01:13 PM
This is a very sad story.:( It is really hard to believe the mom didn't hear the attack. It seems like there is some parts of the story missing. It says the little girls 17 year old aunt seen her at 6:45 am. From what I am reading that little girl was awake when her aunt left the house? Why the heck was the mother not awake? I just do not understand it at all.

I know when my girls are awake because I hear them walking around, in the mornings.

CathyBogart
05-10-2005, 03:08 PM
I don't know what to say....that's just astounding, and so sad. Shouldn't toddlers that age be supervised pretty much all the time? What would posess the mother to let her child wander unsupervised in the yard? I feel so sorry for everyone involved...

finn's mom
05-10-2005, 03:13 PM
Good grief, I can't believe that. I don't even have kids, and, I know you don't leave a two-year-old any way to get outside on her own. Sad. :(

KYS
05-10-2005, 08:43 PM
posted by lizbud: For every bad story, there is also an amazing one;
Nursing Dog Saves Abandoned Baby In Kenya>>>>>>>>>

I heard about this remarkable story on the news.
Lizbud you should start a thread in General about this.
Very amazing nice story.