On Sunday, a pair of family rottweilers killed a 5-year old girl in the backyard of a mansion in Covina.
Dogs Kill Child
Covina, CA - A 5-year old girl is dead after being attacked by two rottweilers. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 2500 block of Palomino Drive in the gated community of Les Maisons around noon on Sunday. Deputies discovered the child had been attacked by the dogs in the backyard. Footage from KABC show a pair of shoes and bits of clothing strewn in the yard. Paramedics transported the child to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 1:23 pm.
Authorities said she sustained injuries to her head and torso while her father tried to protect her from the dogs. Four dogs resided at the home. Investigators said that two dogs -- a 10-year old rottweiler and a 6-year old rottweiler-weimaraner mix -- were responsible for the attack. All four dogs were confiscated by county animal control officers. Investigators said the child had lived with the dogs in the home all of her life with no prior incidents. One other family member sustained minor injuries.
Child Fell Before Attack
The Press-Telegram reports the girl's father, divorced from her mother, lives at the home. Police said the girl and the father were in the backyard, along with four family dogs, which includes a 10-year old weimaraner and a 4-year old doberman. "She fell. They (the rottweiler and rottweiler-weimaraner mix) immediately started attacking her," sheriff’s Lt. Steve De Jong said. The father dove on top of her, "trying to protect her and shield her from the dogs," he said. The other two dogs were not involved.
The child was transported to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, where she died. The medical examiner's office has since identified the child as Amelia Yu. Christopher Valles, a spokesperson for Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control, said his agency had never been to the property on Palomino Drive prior to the fatal attack. All four dogs will be held in quarantine for 10 days. Afterward, a hearing may be held if the owner wants any of the dogs back, Valles said.
Fund & Clarifications
A GoFundMe for the child's funeral costs has raised over $24,000. "This is Amelia Yu, 5 years old, and the last photos taken before her accident," states a note from her father. The beautiful child is seen holding a cat in her arms. "She was a kind and lovely girl who loves animals, dancing, music, and snowboarding," her father wrote. We became aware of the GoFundMe when two media sources began reporting different facts about her death, primarily, that her father did not own the four dogs.
At the time of the fatal mauling, her father was renting a room at the property. The dogs were owned by a different family, according to Christopher Valles, a spokesperson for Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control. During the attack, all four dogs were in the backyard. It is now reported that three dogs were involved, not two. The added dog was a female Doberman. The other two dogs involved were male: a rottweiler and a rottweiler-weimaraner mix. All four dogs are spayed or neutered.
Reportedly, the child visited her father every other weekend. She had previous interactions with the dogs and was known by them. But that is quite different than what police initially reported, which was, "The child had been around the dogs her entire life," sheriff's Lt. Steven De Jong said. Further, Ann Evans, a neighbor, told KABC that her husband encountered the dogs on their property. He informed the homeowner, who leases the property. Evans said the dog owners had moved in over the summer.
Two large dogs seen being taken away from a mansion in Covina after the fatal dog attack.
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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.
Have you heard anything going on with the case of the 92yo woman named Velma Leake from Rochester, NY, that was likely mauled to death by a relative’s Pit bull on December 3rd? I noticed she wasn’t listed after the 8yo boy and before this newest case.
No cause of death has been released.
Its sad she died by rotts but at least it wasn’t pitbull.I mean the damage it would do to that little girl body.so her dad provide his daughter whatever her heart desires nice home nice neighborhood a pet. But he didn’t have the witts to give
her better dog breed then rotts.bad enough the little girl died but he should be 100% at fault that his precious little girl died because of his breed of dogs.
Four dogs of any kind is a pack. Dogs behave so differently in a pack. However , I agree that big powerful dogs bred for guarding are dangerous around kids. My pediatrician( when my girls were young ) said dog bites are one of the top 10 causes for ER visits by children. Dogs and small kids do not mix well. Although I love dogs, I am still kind of scared by big ones, after being bitten as a kid. I have dogs too, but my present pair are small mutts under 20 lbs. I feel very sorry for that poor family. Those Carl books were horrible for kids to read. We had them too.
Shame kids are still dying because their parents are too stupid to get appropriate dogs. As in small and gentle when mature, not power breeds.
The death of this child is awful. If the Rottweiler was used to her, why did he bite? Was he normally child aggressive?
If the only breeds of dogs suitable for children are small gentle dogs, children should not have dogs for pets. Breeds such as Chihuahuas, miniature Pinschers, Lhasa Apsos, Shih Tzus, and others bite children usually in the face.
Breeds such as Papillons, Yorkshire terriers, Silky Terriers, Italian greyhounds, toy poodles and others are too delicate. Children can easily break their legs.
Pitbulls, XLBullies, Rottweilers, Dogo Argentinas, Presa de Canario, Cane Corso and others are not satisfactory due to temperament.
Collies, Golden retrievers, German shepherds if raised with children, standard Poodles and others are generally safe. I wouldn’t trust many Australian cattledogs because they are often too tough. The breed of dog must be physically strong for kids that like to roughhouse but love children. Rescues at the shelters are mostly unsuitable, as one doesn’t know if the dog likes children.
One day on emergency a woman brought in an unconscious six week old Shih Tzu puppy. Her six year old daughter had dropped the puppy. We decided on euthanasia the following day, but the owner said not to euthanize it until she got there. Why? Because she intended to bring over the little girl that caused the puppy’s death. This was nothing but child cruelty. Only let children handle animals that are safe to
handle.
None of the videos are showing a front view of the dogs. I am not a rottweiler fan, especially with small children but not sure those are not mixed. It is hard to see if they if they have the brown face marks. Could they be pit mixed with rottweiler?
The parents are divorced and this attack happened at the father’s home, so that lady in the video who appeared to be crying and fussing over the dogs may not have been the little girl’s mother.
Proof again that just because Rottenweilers are not as deadly as pits does not mean they are safe.
All that money yet it did not buy the sense to keep a pack of large carnivores away from your child.
Many such cases.
Sad.
My family had a Rott years ago. Never offered to bite anybody. He was about 8 yo when I sat down next to him one day in the grass. He looked over at me and growled. No particular reason. Thank god my dad was there and he told me to stand up as he walked over calmly and took hold of his collar. I could feel my bowels loosen when Bear did that. Immediate adrenaline spike.
M:
Also, by that age, Rotts are often full of arthritis or cancer which may be why your previously friendly dog went off the rails.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend Rotts to anyone having, or hoping to have children soon. They’re a serious dog for serious owners and some of the breeding lines are infected with pitbull and poor genetic structure, as well.
Like other guard breeds, even if they don’t bite your child, they, with alarming frequency if not supervised, will bite any kid who touches your child, even in jest.
I’m not a great fan of Rottweilers, but I’ve never had problems with the females. I’ve seen serious dog aggression as well as human aggression in the males. Good Rottweiler breeders breed for good temperament and structure. One woman with a gorgeous male Rottie was in a car accident with him in the backseat. The owner was unconscious. First responders located people who could pick him up at the scene of the accident. Good Rottweiler breeders wouldn’t dream of adding pitbulls to their breeding lines. That would ruin the breeding lines. Back yard breeders mix everything and don’t care about the consequences for the dogs.
My Rhodesian ridgeback was 15 when we finally had him euthanized because a tumor ruptured in the night. He never acted like he was going to bite someone! He was in a lot of pain and the vet didn’t do a great job with the pain medication but he carried on & when he was having a hard time getting home from his walks my daughter put him in a wagon and pulled him until he got too tired. It’s not like a dog in pain will automatically become vicious. I was worried about the needle to put him to sleep and told the vet to put a muzzle on him until they got the drugs to help his pain in but he didn’t need it. He was a lovely dog despite his size. Good genetics & great socialization. I’m willing to bet that our current dog will never become aggressive no matter what happens to him. Some dogs are just trash and they don’t need an excuse to attack anyone and kill a child who falls. I had a Rottweiler who growled at me when he was in my house. I told my husband to get rid of it unless he wanted to go live with it somewhere else! Idiot people with vicious dogs are the problem not that poor sweet puppy is old and in pain so he killed a little girl who fell down by it!
My question is why weren’t the dogs that killed her immediately euthanized? You can’t send dogs back home or give them away after they’ve killed someone. Can you?
It’s an owner surrendering issue. If the owner does not surrender the two attacking dogs, LA County Animal Control will get a court order to put those dogs down.
I’m curious if rottweilers are responsible for 10% of deaths & pit bulls are responsible for 67% aren’t rottweiler actually killing more people than pit bulls if you go by the number of animals compared to the number of deaths they caused? There seems to be a lot of pit bulls, I think they’re starting to rival the number of labs. So if they are 10% of all dogs & kill 67% of all people vs rottweiler at around 0.5 – 1% off all dogs but responsible for 10% of all deaths it seems like they are actually responsible for more deaths per dog than pit bulls! I mean I don’t actually know what % of the dog population is made up of rottweilers but it seems to be an extremely small percentage of them especially when you see a pit bull or 10 in every stinking neighborhood anymore!
Soooo where was the weimer in the photos? All I see are three large black dogs, including a rottweiler being led off as if he’s going on a walk totally unphased by the event unfolding.
The fundraiser says: “$42,000 is needed so they can bury their daughter.”
That seems a bit steep for burial arrangements. Maybe the (presumed) stepmom can sell her dogs.
I don’t mean to be mean or cynical, however, this fundraiser is ludicrous. First off, $42,000 is a huge sum for a funeral/memorial. (Especially if you live n a mansion.) Secondly, and most disturbing, is the comment from the father. He says this is the last photo of Amelia before her “accident.” He describes his daughter as “she loves her animals.” Well, her animals, actually YOUR animals did not “love” her. The fact that you leave out cause of death says…YOU take no accountability for your choice of pets that ended this precious little life. Parents are supposed to protect their children. When they choose to own dog breeds that can be inherently dangerous to children, you don’t get to call it an “accident” and ask for exorbitant amounts of money to bury your child. Those of us here see these death-by-dog GoFundMe sites often. Many of the parents are either ashamed or afraid to mention that the (preventable) “accident” may garner less money. Yes, I realize the death of one’s child is horrific and heartbreaking beyond belief, but there’s something about some of these fundraisers that make my skin crawl. Maybe because it could be an opportunity to be honest about a grievous mistake? A warning to other parents? I apologize if this sounds too harsh, but far too many children have died because their parents failed to protect them.
So the dog owner wasn’t even a step-parent, just a housemate. Criminal charges, please?
Just a note that we have not yet addressed. A nearly entirely different report of this attack came from an LA media source. There is no mechanism for me to count the different ways this attack was initially reported by police and media. The dogs involved and ages are different, the dog owner is different, the homeowner is different … We are not posting an update until I get some of this corroborated. https://www.citywatchla.com/animal-watch/30009-exclusive-update-fatal-dog-attack-on-girl-5-in-los-angeles-county
Since they owned an older Rottweiler and an older Weimaraner, I think the Rott-Weimaraner was from
a breeding of theirs. I am not going to speculate on whether the breeding was intentional or not. That breeding. That breeding would make the Rotten-weim, in my opinion, black. Weimaraner’s color would be recessive
to black. The Weimaraner coloring is solid grey so it would have gotten rid of the Rottweiler’s red markings. The result would have been a solid black dog.
I’ve never seen a vicious Weimaraner so I’m guessing half Rottweiler are just as vicious as half pitbull.