Dog Attack: 3-Year-Old In Critical Condition After Being Mauled By ‘Jealous’ Family Dog


A 3-year-old Philadelphia girl has been hospitalized and is in critical condition after she was mauled by a family dog. According to NBC Philadelphia, the dog attack happened on Saturday evening at around 5 p.m. when the little girl was on a visit to her grandmother’s home located on the 5900 block of Washington Avenue in Philadelphia.

According to police officials, the pet involved in the dog attack is reportedly a Cane Corso and it had no history of aggressive behavior. According to them, the girl was held by her 82-year-old grandmother when the dog attacked without warning.

According to Philadelphia Police Captain Anthony Ginaldi, the dog attack happened after the dog got “jealous” of the attention that its owner was showering on the girl.

“We’re making the assertion that the dog got jealous that the grandmother was holding the child and the dog attacked the child, mauling it in the head area.”

The grandmother, who tried her best to defend the child, was bitten on the hands, police officials confirmed. Her injuries were, however, of minor nature, a CBS Local report said.

Minutes after the dog attack, the grandmother called emergency services and she was taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia by responding police officers. The girl remained in a critical – but stable condition after she underwent emergency surgery. The girl’s grandmother was medically evaluated and her condition was found to be satisfactory.

According to Ginaldi, the actual owner of the dog was the girl’s uncle who is no longer a resident of the home.

“He hasn’t been there for awhile and the grandmother has been taking care of the dog.”

No charges are expected to be filed against the owner of the dog as it was no one’s mistake.

“I don’t think there’s any criminality here at all based on what I understand. It’s just a tragic incident where the grandmother was playing with her granddaughter and the dog attacked her out of jealousy.”

Meanwhile, the fate of the dog remains uncertain after animal control officers took the pet away following the incident. It is expected that they will do an evaluation of the dog and then take a call on its future.

“I know that they’ll do an evaluation on the dog,” Gimaldi said. “They’ll test it. The fate of the dog is gonna be in their hands.”

The Inquisitr has in the past, too, reported about such attack by family dogs. In December 2014, we had reported about the tragic case of a man who was attacked and killed by his pet pit bull.

[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]

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