A pair of Rottweilers that mauled a five-week-old girl to death had been reported to a local council by worried neighbours months before the fatal attack. Mia Jade Riley was sleeping in a bassinet at her grandfather’s home in the town of Moruya in New South Wales, Australia, when the beasts struck at about 10.40pm on Saturday (February 18).
Mia’s desperate parents tried to save her before she was taken to hospital where she died of her injuries.
Family friends told Daily Mail Australia the attack came out of the blue, with the dogs dozing near Mia before the attack.
But neighbours have told the same publication they had stopped walking past the property where they were kept through fear of the hounds.
An elderly resident told the Daily Telegraph: “We warned them. We said [to the council] they will attack someone one day. They are so loud and intimidating.”
A family friend told Daily Mail Australia: “There was a considerable amount of blood. It was terrible. There was just no warning.
He added: “The dogs weren’t running around and no one was provoking the dogs or anything. They weren’t agitated or distressed. It just happened out of nowhere.”
He said Mia’s two-year-old sister had also been around the dogs since she was born without any problems.
The family friend said the tight-knit, seaside town was reeling from the attack.
He said: “It’s really knocked this little community around. There’s nothing you can say. It’s just that tragic.
“This will be really difficult for all the family to deal with. I spoke to the grandfather and he’s just in shock.”
