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Pack of four dogs kills toddler in Maple Ridge home

Amy O'Brian
Vancouver Sun

December 28, 2004

A toddler was killed Monday when he was attacked by up to four dogs at his parents' Maple Ridge home.

The three-year-old boy died Monday afternoon from severe bites he received from one or all of the dogs, Ridge Meadows RCMP said in a statement.

Two of the dogs -- a Rottweiler and a collie -- belonged to the boy's family, but two other Rottweilers at the house were being minded by the family while their owner was away, RCMP said.

The dogs had been confined to the basement, but managed to get out and attack the boy, who was found later by someone in the home.

"He did have a lot of trauma to the body [and] face -- cuts, gashes to his head," said RCMP Corporal Rhonda Stoner.

"It appears that at the home he was very lifeless and they rushed him to the hospital as quick as they could."

The boy was pronounced dead at Ridge Meadows Hospital.

RCMP said the attack happened before noon Monday at a home in the 11800-block of 203rd St. in Maple Ridge.

Three other children from the home are staying with family while the RCMP and the Ministry of Children and Family Development are working to determine whether "there was anything negligent or criminal to blame in this tragic death."

According to the statement, "police are making efforts to remove all dogs from the home" and are considering destroying them.

There have been several severe dog maulings in Canada in recent years, but fatal attacks are rare.

In 1998, an eight-year-old Ontario girl was killed after being grabbed by the throat by a bull mastiff. And in 1995, a 23-year-old Toronto man was killed after he was attacked by his roommate's Staffordshire terrier.

In Vancouver, in December 2002, Shenica White was attacked by two male Rottweiler-pit-bull cross dogs while she was walking in a residential Vancouver neighbourhood with a friend. White, who was 14 at the time of the attack, suffered severe facial and scalp lacerations, her upper left arm was badly injured, and she was left with permanent scarring.

And last year, two pit bulls attacked a woman in a Chilliwack home, mauling her as she ran screaming from the house.
© The Vancouver Sun 2004