The tragic death of Mia Jade Riley: Two pet Rottweilers who savaged sleeping 5-week-old girl euthanised
MORUYA, NEW SOUTH WALES: Two pet Rottweilers who attacked a newborn baby were euthanised on Friday, February 24, after residents complained about the killer dogs. Five-week-old Mia Jade Riley was inside a bassinet during a family barbecue when the incident happened. Despite the efforts of the family as well as the hospital, the infant could not be saved.
A New South Wales council confirmed the dogs had been put down. "Eurobodalla Council can confirm two dogs were seized by rangers. The dogs were euthanized on Friday following advice from NSW Police," a spokesman said, according to Daily Mail.
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The neighborhood council claimed it had previously dealt with complaints about the dogs' noise but had never heard anything about them being dangerous. "Council has no reports regarding dangerous or menacing dogs associated with the address. The barking complaints were followed up with the dogs' owners as per standard practice," said the spokesman.
Theories on why the dogs must have attacked
There have been theories from canine specialists as to why the Rottweilers may have snapped and attacked the newborn child. Friends of the family argued that the attack was spontaneous, but top dog trainers now contend that a sound or odor may have overstimulated the animals. The canines may have been impacted by "sleep startle," which happens when dogs are startled while they are asleep, according to K9 trainer Liarne Henry.
"Every dog breed has the potential to attack even their owner at that moment because it's a fearful reaction and it just takes them by surprise," she explained. The trainer, who has also owned Rottweilers, explained to news.com.au that certain dogs suffering from "sleep startle" may unintentionally turn hostile. "We forget that dogs possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors. So they smell millions of times better than us, so that could have been a trigger," she said. "Or even the sound. Just because we can't hear something it doesn't mean that dogs can't because dogs have a huge frequency range up to 60,000 hertz," she further explained.
A dog trainer said that one of the dogs may have stimulated the other
Mark Hickey, another dog trainer, hypothesized that one of the dogs may have become overexcited and stimulated the other. "When you get one dog that gets really excited, the other dog can feed into that, and then, obviously, you don't just have one dog that's bitten a child or a person, you've got two, so the damage is just going to be way worse," he said. "It's just another timely reminder that children should never be left alone. Things can happen so quickly within a couple of seconds."
Nathan Williams, a canine behavior expert, added that the dogs might have been overstimulated. "In Sydney right now there'd be thousands of Rottweilers, but we hear of one story which is the exception to the rule," Williams said. "So unfortunately, in situations like this, dogs are typically overstimulated and played with, especially with things like squeaky toys and tug of war. It's not in a dog's nature to kill - no dog has that nature - and especially Rottweilers if anything. But if we stimulate them, teach them to chew and bite on things they shouldn't be, then that causes these potential side effects."
The dogs belonged to the neighbor of baby Mia's grandfather, Ross Galvin, whose house the family was visiting for dinner that night.