One Year Old Mauled To Death By Rottweiler

A one year old boy had been mauled to death by a rottweiler while left in the care of his 16 year old aunt.

The teenager had been looking after her sisters and the boy, Archie-Lee Andrew Hirst, but had been upstairs at the time of the attack. One of the other children, a 7 year old, carried Archie-Lee to the kitchen door to stroke the 10 stone fully grown rottweiler kept in the back yard. The dog reportedly snatched the infant from the young girls arms as she held him.

The police were alerted and called to the terraced how in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, just as 3:30pm on Friday. Archie was rushed to Pinderfields general hospital in Wakefield, but was pronounced dead at 9:10pm.

The rottweiler was own by the grandparents, but was said to have had previous encounters with the children and had not acted aggressively.

Archie-Lee had been staying with his grandparents over Christmas, having last seen his 17 year old mother on Boxing Day. The teenager and two young children in the house were her sisters.

Detective Superintendent Steve Payne, of West Yorkshire police, said the attack was unexpected. “The door was opened and without any warning the dog snatched the baby from the youngster’s arms,” he said.

The teenager is said the have rushed down the stairs and attempted to save Archie-Lee, but the dog would not release him.

Andy Foster, 28, a neighbour of the grandparents described the dog as “mad” and “aggressive”.

Many people will remember September of last year, when five month old Cadet-Lee Deacon was killed by two rottweilers who were guarding a pub in Leicester.

On January 1 this year, a five year old child was mauled by her uncle’s dog in St Helens, Merseyside. The pit-bull terrier, a breed banned by the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, attacked the girl at her grandmothers house, who was later acused of manslaughter through negligence, but was found not guilty. The owner of the dog, Kiel Simpson, 24, was jailed for eight weeks following the admission of owning a banned dog.

A RSPC spokesmen said: “Any dog has the potential to attack and we would urge owners to be responsible and keep their dog under control at all times.”

“The society advises owners to make sure that children are supervised at all times when in the company of dogs or other animals.”