Family dog mauls newborn twin girls to death after it got jealous of all the love the babies were getting
A pair of newborns died after they were savagely attacked by their family dog in Brazil. The premature twin girls — Anne and Analú — were mauled to death by the animal when their mother, Elaine Novais, left them briefly to speak to a neighbor. The baby girls died on June 23, the same day they were scheduled to be born by cesarean. But they arrived a month early, The Sun reported.
According to reports, the dog involved in the killing of the twins is Labrador and American Foxhound mix. The animal had been with the family for five years, and has been described usually docile. However, since the arrival of Anne and Analú, the dog became jealous after losing affection from its owners. The reports claimed on the day of the incident that happened in Piripá, in the northeastern state of Bahia, the 29-year-old mother of the twins rushed to her bedroom where the 26 day-old babies lay after hearing their cries. After reaching the room, she pulled the dog away from the children but the animal had already critically damaged the abdomen of the two.
A neighbor of the family, who is also a nursing assistant, applied first aid on the babies before they were rushed to the hospital. However, doctors said that one of the babies died even before reaching the hospital while the other one suffered a cardiac arrest and the medical team could not save her.
The tragic incident has left people in the local community shocked. One family member of the family whose name has not been revealed told the local media that the dog was normally affectionate and gentle. "We think that with the arrival of the twins, the animal no longer had the attention and affection of its owners that it had been used to. This may have caused some kind of jealousy and led what was normally a docile animal to attack the children,” the person said.
It has been reported that the family has two dogs, but only one attacked the baby girls. The tragedy has left the parents of the girls, Elaine and Regis devastated since they welcomed the babies after a desperate nine-year-long attempt to start a family. After hearing the death news of her babies, Elaine reportedly collapsed at Maria Pedreira Barbosa Municipal Hospital. She had to be sedated. “This has devastated the parents. I pray that they don’t fall into a depression but it will be difficult because the children were beautiful, really loved, and desperately wanted,” neighbour Maria de Jesus, said. Midwives involved with the family said Elaine was a doting mother who showed "care and responsibility" throughout her pregnancy.
Meanwhile, reports stated that local police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the twins' death. It is not clear what prompted the dog to attack the babies or what has happened to the dog following the incident.
In another incident that happened at the start of the year, a 26-day-old Indiana baby was mauled to death after he reportedly got caught in between when his family's pit bull mix and beagle mix dogs had started fighting. Police said the brother of the infant had managed to separate the fighting dogs but could not save the infant from the attacks of the pit bull mix. Lafayette Police Lt. Matt Gard said: “The two dogs were engaged in some sort of a fight in the bedroom where the infant was staying. The brother was actually able to separate the beagle away from the pitbull, take it out of the room and when he returned, he found that the pit bull had attacked the infant. The infant did suffer some catastrophic injuries."