A two-month-old girl was killed after being attacked by a pit bull that pulled her from her stroller at a house in Uthai Thani on Tuesday afternoon.
Police said the dog’s owner believed the animal may have mistaken the infant for a toy.
The incident was first reported to Nong Chang police station by Nong Chang Hospital at about 2:40pm.
Pol Col Phetkamphaeng Yuyod, the station chief, said the hospital informed officers that the baby had been brought in with severe injuries from a dog attack and later died.
Police and rescue workers were dispatched to the house in tambon Thung Pho, Nong Chang district.
At the scene, officers found bloodstains and drag marks stretching six metres to a drain. A stroller and three bloodstained toys were nearby.
The pit bull, a two-year-old named “Big,” was still roaming the yard before being confined by its owner at police request.
Witnesses told police the baby’s father, Dusit Sali, a scrap dealer, had brought his wife and child with him while he collected junk at the house.
While the parents were busy, the pit bull approached the stroller, sniffed the baby and then clamped its jaws around her.
The child’s screams alerted her father, who chased the dog and pulled his daughter free. She was badly injured and rushed to hospital but did not survive.
The dog’s owner, whose name was withheld, told investigators the pit bull might have thought the infant was a toy.
Police said legal proceedings would follow. The dog remained in the custody of its owner while the baby’s family was left devastated by the tragedy.
