5-Day-Old Girl Dies After Family’s Pit Bull Attacks Her in Crib: Police

Stock photo of police tape. Carl Ballou/Shutterstock

A pit bull killed a 5-day-old baby girl after apparently jumping into the child’s crib while her family was in another room, according to officials in Florida.

The Citrus County Chronicle reported that a family reported the dog attack on Nov. 11.

A Citrus County Sheriff’s Office representative told the news outlet that investigators ruled the death as accidental. They’re not expected to file criminal charges against the family.

Officials are waiting for the medical examiner’s office to determine the official cause of death, sheriff’s spokeswoman Lindsay Blair told the paper.

The family said the pit bull jumped on a bed located next to the bassinet where the child was located, according to Bay News 9. A family member was in the other room.

The family realized what happened, and the grandfather performed CPR on the child, Fox News reported. Help was then called, the report said.

The child, who was not identified, was airlifted to a nearby hospital and pronounced 90 minutes later, Bay News 9 reported.

Deputies said the infant was “still somewhat responsive” as relatives performed CPR, Fox13 reported.

Citrus County Animal Control officers took the dog and euthanized it.

The attack took place outside of Dunnellon, reports said. Citrus County is located in western Florida.

Other details were not revealed in the case.

‘Most Abused Dogs on Earth’

Animal rights group PETA has said that pit bulls are “the most abused dogs on Earth.”

“Pit bulls are left at shelters in record numbers—and since they are difficult to adopt out, reputable shelters (that don’t slam the door in the dogs’ faces) are finding that they must euthanize more pit bulls and pit bull mixes than all other dogs combined,” the group said.

Karen Delise, research director for the National Canine Research Council and author of “The Pitbull Placebo,” has investigated hundreds of dog bite incidents.

She wrote in a now-taken down article: “My study of dog bite-related fatalities occurring over the past five decades has identified the poor ownership/management practices involved in the overwhelming majority of these incidents: owners obtaining dogs, and maintaining them as resident dogs outside of regular, positive human interaction, often for negative functions (i.e. guarding/protection, fighting, intimidation/status).”

Also contributing negative functions include “owners failing to humanely contain, control, and maintain their dogs (chained dogs, loose roaming dogs, cases of abuse/neglect); owners failing to knowledgably supervise interaction between children and dogs; and owners failing to spay or neuter dogs not used for competition, show, or in a responsible breeding program,” she added.

Dog Bite Statistics

“In the 13-year period of January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2017, canines killed at least 433 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 66 percent of these deaths. Rottweilers, the second leading canine killer, inflicted 10 percent of attacks that resulted in human death. Combined, two dog breeds accounted for 76 percent of the total recorded deaths,” says Dogsbite.org.

Meanwhile, the state of Maryland determined that pit bulls are “inherently dangerous” and owners are liable for injuries that they might cause, the Baltimore Sun reported.

The U.S. Army also acknowledged that pit bulls are high-risk dogs, and the animals are prohibited in some military housing areas.