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German Shepherd vs Rottweiler
August 3, 2010 permalink
After two-year-old Aaron Carlson was killed by a German shepherd at his home, San Diego County Child Welfare Services took his three siblings into custody for their safety. But are they any safer in foster care? Following the Los Angeles Times story on Carlson, there is a recap of a story of a boy killed by a rottweiler in foster care.
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Siblings of boy mauled by family dog are taken by Child Welfare
Officials from San Diego County Child Welfare Services have taken custody of the three siblings of the 2-year-old boy killed Saturday by the family dog, officials said Monday.
Aaron Carlson was mauled by the family’s German shepherd in the family’s home in off-base military housing in San Diego.
Aaron was upstairs while his mother was downstairs, unaware of the attack, authorities said. His father is a deployed Navy sailor.
The move to take custody of the three other children is a routine precaution while officials determine whether their parents can adequately care for them, authorities said.
County animal control officials have euthanized the dog.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Most stories on the following incident are locked behind paywalls. Here is an Associated Press story reconstructed from a blogger posting.
Family Rottweiler kills foster child, 5
SPRINGFIELD - A 5-year-old boy was mauled to death by his foster mother's Rottweiler in the family's backyard on Saturday afternoon.
Kyle Anthony Ross lived with his foster mother, Linda McNeil, who owned the 2-year-old male dog with her boyfriend, Eddie Finklea. The couple usually kept the dog in a chain-link cage behind the home, police said.
Finklea and McNeil told police they thought the boy was napping when they noticed the dog wandering in the front yard around 1 p.m.
When Finklea brought the dog to his backyard pen, he found the boy lying on his back, unresponsive, with bite marks on his face and neck.
''It appears as though the little boy was in the cage,'' Lieutenant William J. Noonan told the Springfield Union-News and Sunday Republican. ''The 5-year-old apparently slipped out without anyone noticing.''
No one in the house saw or heard the attack, police said.
Noonan said that an investigation is still ongoing, and that he did not know if the owners would face criminal charges.
A man who answered the door at the house Saturday night said, ''We ain't got nothing to say. It was an accident.''
An animal control officer from the neighboring town of Chicopee removed the dog after the attack. He said the dog has a history of aggression.
''We had a complaint the dog bit one of the adult neighbors about a year ago,'' Richard B. Hartnett said. ''But it was nothing of this magnitude.''
The state Department of Social Services notified the boy's biological mother, Diana M. Ross, 27, of Ware, of the boy's death several hours after the attack. When she went to the hospital, she said, hospital workers did not allow her to see the boy's face because of the injuries.
Kyle Ross and a younger brother, Damien, 3, were removed from her home in 1999 after Kyle ''snuck out one day,'' Ross said.
Source: Animal Attack Files
No criminal charges were ever brought against the foster family in the Kyle Ross case. Here is a link to a full story of the Kyle Ross killing, Mauling at foster home tragic chapter in family saga.
