Another baby death

A very sad story today in Wales where an Alaskan Malamute was blamed for a baby's death.
No dog should be left alone with a baby, ever.

Not again its a sad situation for everyone concerned. The baby is dead the dog will be put down and for what? A situation that could of been easily avoided

Does anyone here know the legal situation? It seems to be so unfair to kill the dog because of the owners' stupidity. Are there ever cases where such criminal stupidity is recognised and the dog is spared? After all, a mercedes car killed an old man cycling on a country road near Edinburgh yesterday. No one calls for the car to be dragged off to the scrapyard for its 'crime'. Blame the owner.

So sad

The problem is you could not rehome a dog that has killed someone.

Heard about this earlier, very sad story

Simi wrote:
The problem is you could not rehome a dog that has killed someone.

Well that is very annoying. In my experience, the rescues tell you practically NOTHING about the dog's history so why on earth would anyone need to divulge that a tragic incident had occurred that should have been prevented by the previous owner? This is all that was on the SSPCA's webpage about my dog:

"Douglas(*) is a young, neutered boy looking for a new home.
He is a friendly lad who will thrive on plenty of exercise, fun and games.
Douglas would suit a family with older children.
If you could offer Douglas all the love he deserves please contact our centre".
(* I changed his name)

I very much wanted to know whatever they knew about his past, but they wouldnt even tell me which area of Scotland it was - nothing! I found this incredibly annoying as well. By the SSPCA, though I respect and support them very sincerely, I was treated like someone who was on the side of 'the enemy' - rather than someone who had come along to give a good home to a deserving soul. I was not allowed to know anything, so I was told, due to 'data protection'.

So, in my personal and humble opinion, I think it should be possible to rehome a dog if it has committed no crime except to behave like a dog. I am incredibly sad that this child has died, but as we all say ad nauseum, no child (especially a baby!) should be left alone with an unsupervised dog. Poor kid; poor dog.

So sad IMO I don't ALWAYS think it's the owners fault, there are times that aggression just can't be helped. A good friend of mine (and an experienced handler) was hospitalized for 3 weeks by a dog last year in an unprovoked attack.. She did nothing wrong and was simply moving him into another kennel, he was wired up very, very wrong. The dog, or so I've read, had come from an abusive background, the owners were trying to help her, don't know if the dog and baby were left alone together but I really feel for them.

It ripped the babies head off.. I don't think you could ever rehome a dog that has done that. Rescue centres are literally packed to the brim with healthy, sociable dogs that nobody wants, let alone trying to rehome large, powerful dogs that have killed children. Not only that, but rescues can't rehome dogs that have bitten people, even once, so legally it couldn't be done. X

Very sad   

 

This is sad. The owners should be made to stand up in court for letting such a thing happen. Sorry to say this. No babies should ever be left alone with any breed of dog.

Unfortunately there's just not enough education out there for owners of dogs and also anyone can own a dog. I think there should be stricter rules about owning a dog maybe a compulsory training scheme for owners to teach them to be able to understand and be responsible.

I feel for the family in this case it must be horrific for them so sad.

It's my understanding that the cause of death has not yet been ascertained and that a post mortem will be carried out to find out whether the child was dead before the dog chewed her.

I know that these tragedies are the owner's faults but people, when you say they should be stood up and held responsible, come on, they have just lost their 6 day old baby! I am sure that they are suffering enough as it is. It may be their fault but I am sure it was not intentional and their grief is probably worse than any other punishment that could be bestowed upon them.

I absolutely agree, TonyW.

I've heard that the investigators have said the dog wasn't at fault and certainly didn't bite the babies head off, but a PM will be done at the end of the week, and that the media needs to stop making stories up