A five-month-old baby boy and his two-year-old sister were mauled to death by family pet pit bulls at a home outside Memphis, Tennessee.
The boy, Hollace Dean, and his sister, Lilly Jane, were pronounced dead at the scene following an attack on Wednesday (5 October) in Shelby County at around 3.30pm.
Their mother, 30-year-old Kirstie Bennard, was also injured in the attack and was taken to hospital in critical condition, according to WMC.
Bennard’s uncle by marriage, Jeff Gibson, spoke to USA Today about the gruesome attack, revealing how the mother tried to shield her children.
“She put her body on top of Lilly’s to try and protect her after the attack started,” Mr Gibson said Saturday. “Both (dogs) started attacking her while she lay on Lilly.”
Bennard’s best friend set up a GoFundMe campaign for the family, which has thus far raised more than $77,000.
In a Facebook post, Mr Gibson said Bennard suffered “uncountable amount of stitches and bite marks over her entire body, including her face”. He said the mauling lasted around 10 minutes.
The pit bulls were placed in the custody of animal control before being euthanised the day after the attack.
The public information officer at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office told The Independent on Friday that they have no further information on the attack “at this time” other “than from our original tweets”.
“I’ll add to the original tweet whenever I have more information. This is still under active investigation. At this time, our Sheriff’s Office detectives have not released the names or identity of any of the victims,” John Morris said.
The Independent has attempted to reach the family for comment.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) states on its website that “some pit bulls were selected and bred for their fighting ability. That means that they may be more likely than other breeds to fight with dogs” but that “it doesn’t mean that they can’t be around other dogs or that they’re unpredictably aggressive”.
The organisation went on to note that “other pit bulls were specifically bred for work and companionship. These dogs have long been popular family pets, noted for their gentleness, affection and loyalty. And even those pit bulls bred to fight other animals were not prone to aggressiveness toward people. Dogs used for fighting needed to be routinely handled by people; therefore aggression toward people was not tolerated”.
