A seven-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of dogs in Idaho. His mother was also injured in the attack, according to officials.
On 21 January, four dogs attacked a young boy living on the Fort Hall Reservation in southeastern Idaho, according to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.
Fort Hall police officers were called out to a home after they received a report that a boy had been attacked by multiple dogs.
The boy was unconscious when the police arrived. The child’s mother was also severely injured, having sustained numerous wounds trying to pull the dogs off of her child.
The dogs included two Rottweilers and two mixed-breed animals, according to the tribal authorities.
Emergency responders transported the mother and son to the hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead.
In a press release, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes said that police were sent to the home at around 5.51pm.
All of the dogs “were put down by tribal authorities,” the statement said. “Owners of the dogs are non-tribal members who own the property where the attacks occurred.”
The owners “were cited for 15 violations of the Tribes’ Animal Ordinance including Vicious Animal Attack, Rabies Vaccination, and Over the Limit of Canine or Feline Pets”.
Fort Hall Business Council Donna Thompson said, “we would like to ask the public to respect the privacy of the family at this time”.
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes added that Fort Hall Police and the FBI are investigating the incident.
“This case will be submitted to the United States Attorney to review for potential federal charges,” they said.
Sho-Ban News wrote on Facebook that the mother attempted to fight off the dogs, but being unable to do so, she instead laid on top of her son to protect him.
The mother and son lived in a mobile home behind the home of the dog owners, who weren’t home at the time of the attack, the local outlet reported.
The boy left the mobile home and when a few minutes went by without him returning, the mother began searching for him, finding him face down in the front porch area of the home of the dog owners being mauled by the pets.
Fort Hall Police and Fort Hall Game Warden shot and killed the dogs, Sho-Ban News reported.
“The Fort Hall Business Council would like to offer their sincere condolences to the family of the young man who lost his life in this tragic incident,” the statement from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes said.
