Sunday, June 18, 2006

Dogs maul boy

Dogs maul boy
Child, 3, killed in attack
By ADAM CLAYTON, STAFF REPORTER

A northern Manitoba reserve is in a state of shock after a young boy was killed by dogs while playing outdoors.

A three-year-old boy was playing with his cousin, a little girl, on the Sayisi Dene First Nation in Tadoule Lake when he was attacked by two dogs just after 4 p.m. Thursday.

Thompson RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill Ritchat said the mauling was so severe the boy died before adults knew what had happened.

"Apparently there were just children who saw it," he said. "By the time anyone got there it was over and done with."

Police would not release the name of the boy yesterday but local residents identified him as Rory Clipping.

An autopsy performed in Winnipeg yesterday confirmed he died of multiple injuries stemming from dog bites, including wounds to his throat.

Ritchat said investigators believe a couple of dogs were involved in the attack. One of the dogs, a husky-cross, was shot and killed by a band member shortly after the mauling.

Tadoule Lake, a remote fly-in reserve with about 350 residents, is 960 km north of Winnipeg. Chief Joe Thorassie Jr. said the community was stunned by the grisly death of one of its children.

"Right now everybody's in shock," he said.

Shauna Duck, who moved to Winnipeg from Tadoule Lake a few months ago, said she lived next door to Clipping and her daughter is around the same age.

"He was a very outgoing and happy little boy," she said.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Steve Colwell said many reserves have problems with dogs running loose.

"It's not like in the city where they have to be tagged and licensed and kept either in a fenced compound or on a leash," he said.

Ritchat said the dogs involved were not strays and he's unaware of any previous fatal dog attacks at Tadoule Lake.

First fatality
"There may have been people bit by dogs there but this is the first fatality that I'm aware of on this particular reserve," he said.

Fatal dog maulings occur in small communities from time to time but are extremely rare in urban centres.

"I have never heard of anyone being killed by a dog in Winnipeg," said Tim Dack, the city's animal services spokesman.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting, though, that you have to really dig to find this story, but when a pit bull looks at someone the wrong way, Canwest and the other rags talk about it for years.

I'm still waiting for some follow-up reports. Bizarre that nobody's talking.

http://bustersbulletins.blogspot.com

7:50 AM  
Blogger Conners said...

I have to agree with the comment above. Had this have been a Pit bull type breed it would have hit front page right across Canada. Since Winnepeg has banned the bullie breeds, it would be an embarressment to even admit to any sort of dog attack let alone a fatal one that takes the life of a young boy.
As they would have said with the bullies, one life is too many.

6:13 PM  

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