A infant died Wednesday after being mauled by a dog in a Schofield Barracks residence.
Infant Killed by Dog
Honolulu, HI - An infant died after being mauled by a dog in a Schofield Barracks residence. The infant was in a car seat when the attack occurred. Emergency personnel responded to a 911 call Wednesday evening about a child with serious injuries that had been bitten by a dog inside a home at Schofield, the Army said in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "Our hearts go out to the family during this difficult time," said Col. Dan Misigoy, commander, U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii.
The type of dog involved was not released. The Honolulu Police Department is leading the investigation, reports the Star-Advertiser. Police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said this "tragic incident" has been classified as an "unattended death." Meaning, that a person was found dead and there were no witnesses. In some cases, the body is not found for days or weeks. All unattended deaths have to be investigated to determine if any criminal act was involved.
Hawaii News Now reports the infant was a 4-month old girl. The attack happened at her home on Hall Street just before 5:00 pm. The child suffered head injuries and was taken to Tripler Army Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. No other information was released. Dog bite fatalities on military installations typically have very few details. Since 2009, the Army has banned multiple breeds from privatized housing, including: pit bulls, rottweilers and several others.
Very likely due to each military branch adopting their own uniform breed-specific policies a decade ago, we have not reported a dog mauling death in military housing since 2012. That year, a 6-year old boy was killed by a PTSD "service dog" just outside of Fort Campbell. In 2010, a 2-year old boy was killed by a dog in Tierrasanta, a military housing area within the city of San Diego. His mother was later convicted of child endangerment. Both deaths involved German shepherds.
Multiple children have been killed by dogs while strapped into a child safety seat indoors. Most recently in 2019, when a babysitter left the baby in a car seat while she went to clear room in her car for the child. When she returned, her pit bull-mix had attacked the baby. In 2018, a babysitter placed an infant, who was in foster care, on a couch still in the car seat. When the family dog got "agitated" in its crate, the babysitter let the dog out. The dog immediately attacked the infant.
Related articles:
03/05/19: 2019 Dog Bite Fatality: Child Killed by Babysitter's Pit Bull-Mix in Salisbury
10/05/18: 2018 Dog Bite Fatality: Adopted Dog Kills Baby Girl While in Foster Care in Florida
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
People know that dangerous canines are unpredictable and are also capable of swiftly delivering fatal wounds in full-auto mode, but these same people force everyone to constantly roll the dice and play the tragic game. It is the same old thinking: “Everyone else’s dogs are potentially dangerous, but my dog is always friendly and just wants to say Hi.” This thinking is proven false, routinely, thousands of times a day, and severely, thousands of times a week, and extremely severely, thousands and thousands of times a year in this country. This thinking error is not born of cognitive impairment; rather, it is born of overtly manifest narcissism.
The last time a dog owner insisted that the dogs were friendly, one of his dogs bit me. All I was doing was minding my own business while trying to get past the guy and those two dogs.
They weren’t pit bulls or any other dangerous breed. But the lesson was clear: Steer clear of all dogs while taking a walk.
My money is on pit bull/ pit bull mix. Many Hawaiians sees the pit bull as their state dog. I will be very surprised if this turns out to be a sheperd.
First off. Just because you live in Hawaii it doesn’t make you “hawaiian”. The attack happened on a military base and the family is Caucasian from out of state. So it definitely could be a shepherd
Actually I believe the family is African American. Just fyi.
I use the term Hawaiian like I use the terms Californian, Floridians, New Yorkers, New Englanders, Charlestonians, and Georgians. It means you live there as a resident. I am not talking about Polynesian people.
Pit bulls are not allowed on base so of it was the family was housing the dog against base rules.
There is no dog-breed-check, unfortunately. So people call their pit bulls or other banned breeds, “terrier mix,” “lab mix,” etc. on the paperwork and nothing comes of it.
It’s against the rules, but no one is there to enforce them.
I honestly don’t care what breed it was. There’s no excuse for such an attack. This little baby was just sitting in a carseat! This dog, whatever it was, needs to be put down if it hasn’t already.
The baby should never have been left unattended with any dog of any breed.
I don’t believe that all dogs recognize an infant is a little human being. Because of carelessness, an innocent baby and a dog are dead. If the dog hasn’t been destroyed, it will be.
Note that every time I sell a puppy, I tell the new owners to never, under any circumstances, leave a dog unattended with any infant. Breed does not matter.
I believe a Chihuahua could kill a baby if it bit in certain places.
Exactly. Nothing in this world matters more than the safety of infants and children.
Surely we humans smell ‘similar’ to each other…A dog cannot mistake a baby human for another dog or any other ‘animal’ the poor little baby was probably asleep… there is no excuse for a dog that attacks and kills a baby this young, some dogs kill babies that are left alone and some kill babies right in front of adults/carers (babies have been ripped out of adults arms!)
this is MY opinion
I have a four month old at home we don’t live far from where this happened. We got a dog last September that always had food aggression and sometimes growled but was otherwise a lovable, smart dog. After the baby was born, He bit my hand; and my in-laws insisted on taking him in to try to neuter/get training. The dog ended up attacking my mother in law breaking her hand. She’s okay now and he was put down. But thinking of what could have happened and seeing this is devastating. So sad. Might have been safer to put him down the first time he bit someone, or not have had a dog anywhere near our infant in the first place.
Pit bull or husky is what I would bet, but hopefully we shall find out.
I’m with Bailey on this one. It was not a little fuzzy ball of fluff or a beagle. It was a power/working breed. Whatever breed it was, the responsible adult knew that he/she was obviously placing the child at risk of grave threat. The person made a wilful decision to place the child in danger, due to convenience and/or narcissism and/or lack of Love.
Saw a mask-less couple walking around in the store with a pit bull this morning. I thought, well, at least they are consistent in their disregard for their own and others’ safety…