A toddler was mauled to death Friday by two of a family member’s dogs, police said.
A grandmother who tried to intervene was also injured by the attacking dogs, The Gainesville Sun reported.
Six dogs, including the two that attacked the boy, were removed from the home.
"The owner told us she had adopted all the dogs from rescue," Ed Williams, director of Alachua County Animal Services, told the Sun. "All the dogs looked healthy and in good body condition, and were kept in clean crates. They were all sterilized as best I could tell and were current with their vaccines."
Friday morning, the grandmother went to her daughter’s home with the 2-year-old boy, from another daughter, to take care of the dogs, something they have done previously.
The grandmother was making a sandwich as the child was in the yard with two of the dogs, an American Staffordshire terrier and a Labrador-mix, the Sun reported.
The grandmother went outside around 10:30 a.m. and was unable to find the boy and the dogs. She heard some noises coming from a shed and found the dogs mauling the child, investigators said. She started hitting the dogs with a shovel and then they started to attack her.
She was able to call emergency responders who arrived and pronounced the boy dead at the scene. The grandmother was taken to a hospital. She suffered severe but not life-threatening injuries to her neck.
The dogs involved in the attack will be quarantined for 10 days before they are euthanized.
The four other dogs were also removed from the house during the investigation.
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