Two children were killed, and their mother was hospitalized after the family’s two pit bulls attacked them outside their family home in Tennessee, authorities said.
Family members said Kirstie Jane Bennard, 30, suffered multiple injuries when she tried to pull the dogs off her 5-month-old son Hollace Dean and 2-year-old daughter Lilly Jane, who were both killed in the vicious dog attack.
“She put her body on top of Lilly’s to try and protect her after the attack started,” Bennard’s uncle, Jeff Gibson, told USA Today. “Both [dogs] started attacking her while she lay on Lilly.”
The Oct. 5 attack lasted for a long and tragic10 minutes.
According to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, the children died at the scene. Bennard was taken to a local hospital, where she remains in stable condition.
The two dogs, Cheech and Mia, were euthanized.
“I can promise you those children were her world, and if there was any inkling of danger, she would have never had those dogs near her kids,” Bennard’s best friend Kelsey Canfield told Fox News Digital. “Those children were everything to them, and they just have a really long journey ahead.”
Canfield said Cheech and Mia had been with the family for eight years.
“That attack lasted longer than any one of us could have ever imagined,” she added.
It’s unclear why the dogs attacked.
“It is still an active, ongoing investigation,” Sheriff’s office public information officer John Morris told the press.
A Gofundme page has been set up to help the family.
“They are such an incredible and sweet family and needs lots of prayers and support at this time,” the page reads.
The article states: “It’s unclear why the dogs attacked.” It is the nature of the breed. Sometimes, pitbulls will become vicious for no reason at all.
That statement is simply not true. I own an American Staffordshire Terrier and he has only shown aggression when someone rings the doorbell once the door is open all he wants is pats and love. This is true even when he does not know the person. I have thousands of people known by groups I belong to and the same is true for all of them.
The dogs must have been provoked or were simply trying to play and something went horribly wrong.
No one needs to have pit bulls….period. They are terribly dangerous no matter how docile you think they may be. Who in their right mind would own them with small kids??? Only a lunatic!
I have four dogs, three German Shepherds and a German Shepherd/ pitbull mix. I was appalled when I read this article as my Gracie is the sweetest loving pooch and all she craves human attention. That being said, my wife and I rescued her from people that we believe used her as a fighting dog. She has scars all over her body and she’s attacked our other dogs. One of the first things that I noticed about her is, that she immediately goes for the throat of her adversary.
People seeing her for the first time, around other dogs, would probably think that she’s vicious but, we know her differently. I don’t blame “Gracie” for the way that she responds to other dogs, I blame the ignorant idiots that forced her into a ring with other dogs! All that she knew before we adopted her was violence but, we figured a way to let her show her true self. We adopted a German Shepherd puppy and introduced him to Gracie and watched what happened. She immediately “adopted” the new puppy and now, they’re inseparable. This “killer” dog now teaches the pup (who by the way is about 12 inches taller than she is) the art of dog combat. Seeing this “Mutt and Jeff” combination joust with each other is a sight to behold, no one would ever believe that Gracie was a killer. Sadly, our story will not lessen the pain of this family but, maybe others will realize that “OUR” dogs are nothing more or less than what we make them.
I hated pitbulls But I got a rescue and they said it was a jack Russell mix.Found out there was a jack Russell pitbull mix.So I went online And pretty much found out it’s 50/50. Some great dogs And summer very scary and you never know too many stories of them attacking.They are 6% of the dog population and responsible for 60% of the Attacks. They just don’t bite they maul.I had 2 jump at my dog and I went on a trail And 1 coming out of a pet store I think god they were leashed.My dog is the sweetest thing and she has never come close to Biting anyone . You could Take food out of her mouth and she wouldn’t care.If I had known she was a pitbull mix I probably wanted to garden her she was a rescue.My daughter told me she was pop it I didn’t believe her tell she show me the jack Russell pit bull mix on her phone and it was my dog it’s slightly different color.If I thought she had Any ability to buy someone I would give her up But she is the best dog I’ve ever had she is now 5 years old