Woman Attacked and Killed by Dog During Walk in Rural Canada

Ambulances outside the Dartmouth General Hospital in Dartmouth, N.S., Canada, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

A Canadian woman was attacked and killed by her dog while she was walking in rural Nova Scotia, officials said.

The woman, a resident of Middle Musquodoboit, has not been identified. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police identified the dog as a pit bull.

The police immediately put out an alert for a “tan [and] brown Pitbull on the loose,” adding that people need to “stay indoors” and “not approach” the dog.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police later said that the dog was found dead around an hour after the fatal attack, according to a bulletin.

“The pit bull was located and police has confirmed it is deceased. The circumstances surrounding the initial call and the dog’s death are under investigation,” it said.

In a later alert, the agency wrote that “police were notified that the dog was struck by a passing motorist near Hwy. 224 and it was confirmed deceased.”

“Our thoughts are with the victim’s family during this difficult time,” it said.

Neighbors told The Chronicle Herald that they were stunned to hear that the dog killed its owner as they assumed it would have been a second pit bull that they assumed was more dangerous.

“When I found out it was that dog I was shocked, I couldn’t believe it,” a neighbor said, according to the paper. “Honestly the other dog was always a constant worry for myself when I’d leave the house to go to work,” he said, adding that he was worried the dog would be “attacking the animals or attacking my wife when she was out working.”

The neighbor added that the two dogs “were the focal point” of the deceased woman’s life. “I think she really tried to help the problem dog become a better dog,” the neighbor said.

Jocelyn Parker told CTV News that she was driving her own dog to a “doggy day care” location last week. She saw a dog and a girl on the side of the road.

The girl, who was a teenager, flagged Parker down.

“She said, ‘Come quick, come quick,’” Parker told CTV News. “She said, ‘There’s a lady laying in the ditch, there’s a body.'”

The pit bull then ran from the scene down a dirt road, Parker said, adding that she called 911, according to the CBC.

“At that point, we hadn’t put together that the dog was perhaps behind the incident,” Parker told CTV News. “He was not aggressive to us.”