Sheriff unloads on dog owner accused of letting 'vicious' animals maul neighbor to death, faking heart attack to avoid jail



A Florida woman has been arrested after authorities said her two dogs fatally mauled a neighbor. There had reportedly been over a dozen complaints about the dogs before the fatal dog attack.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey announced the arrest of 29-year-old Linda Cutler at a recent press conference. Cutler was charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of 50-year-old Jodi Cowan, who reportedly was mauled to death by Cutler's dogs.

'We have a complete cultural meltdown where everybody's got these big pit bulls, and nobody's taking proper care of them.'

Judge David Koenig initially considered a $250,000 bond for Cutler but ultimately revoked it due to a prior arrest, ordering her to remain in jail, WKMG-TV reported.

Brevard County jail records show Cutler was previously charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, and failure to appear.

In the early morning hours of May 19, Cowan was walking her own dog in her neighborhood in Cocoa.

Ivey said that's when Cutler's dogs climbed over a fence and "brutally" attacked Cowan.

"The dogs identified as Max and Mako climbed over the owner's fence and began to brutally attack and maul Cowan, forcing her to the ground, viciously attacking her, and eventually dragging her across the ground for quite some distance," Ivey said during the press conference.

Ivey stated that a neighbor's surveillance camera caught the dogs charging toward Cowan before attacking her.

As Blaze News previously reported, Cowan's partner of 25 years discovered her in a pool of blood as the dogs continued to try to drag her away.

Cowan's partner, Donnell Smith, told WESH-TV he left his home to help a neighbor around 1 a.m., and Cowan and her dog were gone when he returned.

Smith said he heard a faint cry for help and then witnessed Cowan being dragged away by the animals.

"I saw the silhouette of the two dogs dragging my wife down the road, off into the grass in front of the truck down there," a tearful Smith explained.

Smith recalled, "I pulled my knife out, you know, just swinging [it with] one hand and holding the blood with the other, trying to stop her from bleeding."

"It was brutal. Seeing the same woman I've loved for the last 30 years, 25 years just ripped apart by two animals was just ... I'll never get that image out of my mind," Smith noted.

Smith called 911, and Cowan was transported to the hospital but succumbed to her injuries about four hours later, according to Sheriff Ivey.

Smith believes his wife may have lost her life because she was attempting to rescue her own dog.

"They must have been chasing our little dog, and she went to save her little dog, to get him," Smith said. "And then they switched their attention to her when she tried to get them off our little dog."

Smith told WESH that he had previously alerted the sheriff's office about Cutler's dogs.

"I told them that she had those two pits that get out all the time and run the neighborhood and have been aggressive toward people, and they didn't do anything about it," Smith stated. "My wife lost her life because of it."

RELATED: Beloved elderly fire department member mauled to death by pack of pit bull-mix dogs; owner charged with murder, animal abuse

WESH-TV reported that there were "more than a dozen calls made to animal control" regarding complaints about Cutler's dogs dating back to 2024.

Cutler was issued four citations after two calls about dog bites in January and February 2024, according to WESH.

A complaint in 2025 claimed the dogs killed an outdoor cat.

WESH reported that one of the dogs bit someone on April 14, 2026, and the individual was taken to an emergency room.

Other calls focused on Cutler's dogs running loose in the neighborhood.

WKMG-TV reported that the earlier incidents were not about the two dogs involved in the deadly mauling.

"It's also important to note that during the early calls from 2024 through November of '25, the calls at Cutler’s residence were related to other dogs, as the two dogs involved in this attack were puppies back then," Ivey stated.

A neighbor told WESH, "We have a complete cultural meltdown where everybody's got these big pit bulls, and nobody's taking proper care of them."

The neighbor added, "It is constant that dogs are running loose, and I understand that dogs are property, and the county is limited on what they can do, but a lady is dead."

Ivey said, "Linda Cutler had specific and documented knowledge that her dogs repeatedly got out of her yard and additional knowledge that her dogs were attacking humans and had actually bitten someone."

Ivey said Cutler "took minimal action to prevent her dogs from getting out of her yard."

During the investigation, agents took a sworn statement from Cutler, who admitted that her dogs "routinely" escaped her yard and had to "repeatedly" return to her home, according to Ivey.

Sheriff Ivey said that Cutler confessed that she knew that one of her dogs previously had bitten another person, and her dogs were becoming "more and more aggressive, even toward her."

Cutler claimed that she installed an additional fence, but knew there were holes through which her dogs escaped the yard, the sheriff said.

Ivey added that Cutler was staying at a beachfront hotel when officers with the Melbourne Police Department arrested her on the manslaughter warrant while responding to a separate "disturbance" involving her and others at the hotel.

Ivey said of Cutler, "Oh, and to make matters worse, when she was taken into custody, she feigned having a heart attack, and had to be, by policy, transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation."

Sheriff Ivey is seen on video escorting Cutler into the Brevard County Jail, where he tells her, "Hope you enjoyed your time at the beach because you're not going to be going back."

Cutler replies, "What is the purpose of that?"

The sheriff fires back, "A woman is dead, and two dogs are about to be euthanized because of your uselessness."

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office said the dogs are expected to be euthanized.

When asked if Smith would ever forgive Cutler, he said, "I'll have to think about that one. I'm not vindictive towards her. I don’t want anything evil happening to her, but to forgive her is gonna take a little work."

The Melbourne Police Department and the Brevard County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.

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Modern pet ownership is a mental illness



And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

Man’s relationship with animals has been complicated for thousands of years. From the beginning of time, they have been ours to rule over — for better or worse. Their care has been a sacred responsibility.

What once would have warranted a CPS call is now accepted, even encouraged. Young children crawl where animal feces and urine collect.

Our ancestors offered the best animals as burnt sacrifices. Those who forgot God worshipped the animals instead. We worked alongside them, traveled with them, and fought wars on their backs. We domesticated them for food and clothing. The decent among us treated them kindly and with gratitude.

We have loved animals. We have also misused them for our own needs and amusement.

Friend-zoned

Animals have long been man’s companions. But the idea that an animal is “man’s best friend” did not emerge until the 18th century — and even then, those loyal hunting companions only loosely resembled the modern leashed house pet.

There has always been a role for animals alongside the impaired, the grieving, the lonely, or the emotionally suffering. But such arrangements were not the norm. Animals lived near men because they were valuable. Children played with them outdoors. Sometimes barns were attached to houses. But no decent family would have subjected their children to living in the same space as animals — except in rare cases when an animal was sick and required special care.

What once would have warranted a CPS call is now accepted, even encouraged. Young children crawl where animal feces and urine collect, and no one blinks. Disabilities are suddenly ubiquitous, and everyone feels entitled to an emotional-support companion, regardless of whether it is good for the animal — or their children.

Bred for comfort

These animals we call man’s “best friends” are hardly recognizable as anything God created. We have bred them to suit our desires. We have domesticated wild creatures and enslaved them. They depend on us completely, even as we use them to satisfy our own emotional needs. We have fashioned a kind of Frankenstein for our own comfort, without counting the cost: the animals we have tampered with and overbred, now wandering the streets, feral and forgotten.

As Christians called to be good stewards of all God has given us, we must ask whether we have gone too far. Have we taken advantage of animals under the guise of love?

We excuse this abuse with self-serving justifications. They like it, we say of pets locked inside, barking or scratching at doors—as if anything enjoys being caged, leashed, or confined for another’s benefit. Sometimes we hoard them and claim it is love. We argue, My pet teaches me responsibility and routine. But pets for the sake of learning responsibility are for children. Adults should turn to prayer for discipline. We say, My pet is the only thing that loves me unconditionally.

RELATED: Beloved elderly fire department member mauled to death by pack of pit bull-mix dogs; owner charged with murder, animal abuse

Image source: Davidson County (N.C.) Sheriff's Office

Tied down

Pet ownership is a sign of mental illness. Instead of seeking help, we entrap animals.

We claim pets make us responsible adults, yet they prevent us from serving others. We cannot travel, volunteer, or do missionary work because of them. They keep us from weddings, baby showers, and funerals. They make us less generous, less available, less free.

The gospel goes unpreached for the sake of man’s best friend.

But what has been done cannot easily be undone. We cannot simply turn pets loose. If taking them was a mistake, abandoning them would be another.

This is not the first time humanity has abused its authority over animals. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors domesticated pigeons — first for food, then as messengers. When technology made them unnecessary, those loyal companions became pests. What we created, we came to despise once it no longer served us.

No easy answers

Rather than continuing this cycle of domesticating and discarding animals, we should pause and ask what we are doing. Are we abusing our God-given authority? How can we make amends without causing further harm? I have no easy answers — only a denunciation of the modern pet industry.

In the meantime, we should not condone animal hoarding. We should reach out to the lonely in our communities instead of outsourcing compassion to pets. And those with unruly animals should make them tolerable, rather than subjecting the rest of us to their filth, noise, and danger. Just as a young man becomes obnoxious without purpose, so do animals confined without work.

We must find a humane way to let pets return to being animals. It would be better for them — and for us.

Woman celebrates her ‘abor-bor,’ claims her pit bull always ‘wins’ over a baby



The left’s side of the abortion debate is evil enough as it is, but a woman on TikTok decided to take it a step further and add her pit bull — a breed well known to attack children — into the mix.

“As many of you saw, I had an abor-bor earlier this year, not only because I don’t want children right now, but you want to know the real reason? I already have a baby, it’s this one right here,” the woman said proudly as she panned her camera to the pit bull behind her.

“He cost me a lot of time and energy and money, and if I had to choose between a human baby’s needs and this one, I’m choosing this one every time,” she continued.


“That’s why this fall, there’s only one candidate protecting our reproductive freedoms, and if she doesn’t win — don’t make me choose between a human baby and this one — because this one wins every freaking time,” she added.

“My political ideology is whatever makes that illegal,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey comments. “Every part of that, actually. There’s so many things in that clip that I think should be illegal; having an abortion and owning a pit bull.”

“This really just goes to show disordered priorities and disordered desires just put your whole life out of whack,” she says. “That’s really what’s happening here. When you worship the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen, as Romans 1 tells us, then everything gets distorted and disordered.”

“Like, if you cannot see how absolutely depraved and backwards and dark that is, this is, like, a spiritual issue, a demonic problem here, then you need to be reading your Bible and praying a lot more,” she adds.

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Rabid defenders of pit bulls are spiritually blind — and ignoring the tragic stats



The never-ending pit bull debate has been reignited online after an Ohio infant was tragically killed by one of her family’s three pit bulls — who spent its life as a beloved family pet.

“I will never understand why!!!” mother Mackenzie Copley wrote in a Facebook post, where she posted photos of her 7-month-old daughter cuddling with the family dogs. “I am so lost and broken. This was the same dog who was side by side with my baby every single day,” she added.

While heartbroken for the family, Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” believes this situation could have been avoided.

“I don’t think that they should be legal,” she says. “I am tired of talking about these stories, where another baby or another toddler dies because a family allowed what they mistakenly call their nanny dog to lay down next to their child, to play with their child, and that child is mauled to death.”


“I am tired of us being a Romans 1 people, that we serve the creature rather than the creator, and so we have disordered affections and disordered priorities where we feel more of an inclination to defend a certain breed of dog than we do to defend human life,” she continues.

Stuckey believes it’s a “spiritual issue,” and those who defend the pit bulls never express sympathy for the child hurt or killed, because they’re suffering from “spiritual blindness.”

“No sympathy for that, just immediate, almost like a pit bull, rapidly defending this very, on average, aggressive breed,” she says. “Every time that you push the propaganda that these dogs are safe, that they’re OK around children, that they’re nanny dogs, someone is listening to that, and they are internalizing that lie.”

Pit bulls were originally bred for bull baiting in England, primarily between the 16th and 19th centuries. A popular blood sport at the time, bull baiting consisted of these dogs being set loose on a tethered bull, where the goal was to immobilize it by biting and holding its nose or face and not letting go — until the bull was dead.

“And you think your toddler can stand a chance against that? It can’t,” Stuckey says.

And it’s not just the history of the animal that’s concerning. It's the undeniable stat of which breed is reported to be the most likely to attack.

According to Dogsbite.com, from 2010 to October 2023, of the 478 fatal dog bites in the United States, 196 came from pit bulls — which is 60%.

“Despite making up a very small part of the dog population, I think it’s like 6% of the dog population they account for,” Stuckey says. Dogsbite.com also reports that pit bulls are 2.5 times more likely to bite in multiple anatomical locations than other breeds.

Pit bull terriers are 48% more likely to attack without provocation than other breeds, and their attacks have higher morbidity rates, higher hospital charges, and a higher risk of death than attacks by other breeds.

“Honestly, I could have a section in my book ‘Toxic Empathy’ about pit bull apologists. It’s like the same thing. It is showing more empathy for a dog than it is for the victims of their attacks. And toxic empathy, it blinds you to reality and morality,” Stuckey says, adding, “That is certainly the case when it comes to pit bulls.”

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'SNL' Mocks Gay Surrogacy. What Is Happening?! | Ep 1172
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'SNL' Mocks Gay Surrogacy. What Is Happening?! | Ep 1172

Backyard bloodbath: California pit bull breeder savagely mauled to death by his own dogs



A California pit bull breeder was brutally mauled to death by the very dogs he cared for in his own backyard.

The slain man's girlfriend made a gruesome discovery on Friday morning when she found her boyfriend's mutilated body lying in a kennel area. The Compton Fire Department, along with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, responded to the backyard bloodbath around 8 a.m. after the woman called 911.

Aerial footage shows a woman carefully scaling a fence in an attempt to exit the backyard of the Compton home teeming with pit bulls.

Investigators say a surveillance camera caught the fatal mauling on video, which occurred between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday.

“He was feeding the dogs, at which point maybe there was an altercation between some of the dogs, and [they] ultimately attacked and mauled the victim," said Michael Gomez with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau.

The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control said authorities were cautious when rounding up the 13 pit bulls – five adult dogs and eight puppies.

Animal control officials will determine if any of the deadly pit bulls need to be euthanized.

"Preliminary information suggests that the deceased individual was involved in breeding and selling pit bulls,” animal control officials said in a statement.

The father of the deceased dog owner is "cooperating and has consented to signing over the dogs" to the Department of Animal Care and Control.

Department of Animal Care and Control director Marcia Mayeda said, "Our deepest sympathies are extended to the family and friends of the victim. We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation to determine the facts and ensure the safety and well-being of both the community and the animals involved."

Damian Wesley with the Compton Animal Rescue told KTLA, "It sucks that it brings awareness from a death. I hope that awareness is spread… that people need to take great care of their dogs. People need to understand that these dogs can kill somebody and hurt people."

The identity of the 35-year-old victim has yet to be released by authorities.

The investigation is still ongoing, according to authorities.

(WARNING: Graphic Content)

Compton pit bull breeder mauled to death by his own dogs www.youtube.com

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4-year-old playing in backyard was mauled to death by dog; family says the boy was 'full of life'



A 4-year-old boy was mauled to death by at least one dog when he was playing in the backyard of his grandmother's house in Detroit, Michigan.

The vicious dog attack happened in the city's west side just before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, according to police.

Detroit Police Department Cpl. Dan Donakowski said, "The dogs mauled the boy while he was in the backyard. He succumbed to his injuries. We're not sure if it's one or two dogs, but Animal Control has two dogs in custody."

The boy was pronounced dead at the site of the dog attack.

An adult was at home when the boy was killed in the deadly dog attack, according to police.

"The event was so horrific that people across the street could hear," attorney Peter O’Toole said. "They're the ones who contacted authorities right away."

The family believes the dogs jumped over the fence to maul the boy.

According to WXYZ-TV, "Police say the dog even dragged the child back to the other side through a gap in the fence. Neighbors a block away also heard his grandmother call for help."

Donakowski said it is believed that the dogs that mauled the little boy to death belong to a neighbor who lives behind the house of the grandmother.

The dogs were believed to be pit bulls or pit bull mixes, police said.

WILX reported, "As DPD and Detroit Animal Control investigated the scene, police chaplains held the family’s hand in prayer as they mourned the sudden and tragic death of the young child."

The boy has been identified as 4-year-old Lovell Anderson.

"Just full of life," Lovell’s aunt Monique Grant said of the slain boy. "We just ask for everybody's prayers right now."

Lovell's aunt Maple Blackshear remembered, "Just such a gentleman, so helpful. Just sweet."

Police Cmdr. Arnold Williams told reporters at the scene, "We’re trying to do everything that we can just to help everybody through this. The loss of a child who hasn’t really started their life is just something huge that nobody can really even fathom."

Williams added, "This reminds everybody, if you do have a dog to secure your dog to make sure your dog can’t get out. That’s the most important thing."

At the time of publication, the owner of the dogs has not been identified or charged.

Pit bulls taken into custody after 4-year-old killed in dog mauling in Detroit www.youtube.com

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Indiana sheriff's deputy mauled to death in dog attack while protecting 8-year-old son from 'pit bull-type' dog she was dog-sitting



An Indiana sheriff’s deputy was killed in a brutal dog attack while she was trying to protect her 8-year-old son, according to police.

Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy Tamieka White was mauled to death by a "pit bull-type" dog at her home in Indianapolis around 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday, police said. White was attempting to protect her son from the dog attack. However, the dog bit White's 8-year-old son.

Indianapolis police officers responded to the dog attack and found White dead at her home. A police officer reportedly shot and killed the dog after the animal charged at responding officers.

The boy suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

A neighbor told WTHR about the boy, "He was in shock. He kept repeating several things over and over concerning his mom. He wanted people to look at his injury, he kept saying that. It was underneath the clothing, so the paramedics and everybody took care of that."

Indianapolis Animal Care Services said that it took away the dead dog, three additional dogs, and a cat from White's house. The animal agency said it could not confirm the breed of the attacking dog without a DNA test, but said the dog was a "pit bull-type."

Indianapolis Animal Care Services noted that an animal control officer responded to a call about two aggressive dogs that were loose in the area on Saturday. The officer found two dogs that had gotten out of the backyard through a broken fence and a third dog was in the backyard.

The 46-year-old deputy had worked in the Judicial Enforcement Division of the Marion County Sheriff's Office since 2007.

A spokesperson with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told the Indianapolis Star that the killer dog was not owned by White, but police have identified the owner. White was reportedly dog-sitting the animal at her home.

Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal said in a statement, "Deputy White was a bright light to all that knew her. We are immensely grateful for her nearly 17 years of service to our agency."

Brittany Seligman, White's commander at the Marion County Sheriff's Office, said, "She died last night protecting the most important person in her life."

The Marion County Sheriff's Office released a statement about the death of White:

It is with great sadness that the Marion County Sheriff’s Office shares the unexpected and tragic passing of one of our own, Deputy Tamieka White. Deputy White was a courageous and dedicated public servant, having worked with our agency since 2007. Most recently, she served in our Judicial Enforcement Division. She was a bright light to everyone, and will missed by all who knew her. We will work tirelessly to uphold her memory. Deputy White is survived by her son, who will always be a part of the MCSO family. Please keep her family, friends, and colleagues in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.


Sheriff's deputy killed by dog while dog sitting www.youtube.com

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3-year-old Louisiana girl may never smile again after being mauled by foster dog that ate toddler's face: 'She was being thrown all over the place'



A 3-year-old Louisiana girl may never smile again after being mauled in a vicious dog attack. The foster dog ate the little girl's face during the attack.

On March 16, Emily Roark was attacked by a foster dog that her family had brought into their home in less than 24 hours before the horrific attack. The girl's mother said the dog and the girl were "very sweet together," according to the Daily Mail. The dog, named Tater Tot, even let Emily give it kisses on the snout.

Rebekka Bolline, Emily's mother, said, "They had a good relationship. The dog let her kiss her face, on the snout, let her pet her and everything."

"The little bit of time that they were around each other, they were very sweet with each other," Bolline said. "Emily came downstairs and she was petting the dog from the back of the neck to his back, very, very softly."

Bolline recalled, "In a matter of seconds, it barked and latched on her face and then started shaking her side to side, while I'm screaming, 'Get off my baby! Get off my baby!'"

"When the dog bit and latched onto her, she didn't make a sound," the mother explained. "Her body went limp and she was being thrown all over the place."

"At that moment, I just thought that she wasn't going to make it and that she was going to die," Bolline said. "I didn't know how to help her. I couldn't get the dog off her. I kept screaming. I don't remember how I got the dog off – I blocked it out."

The mother reportedly said the dog eventually released Emily from its jaws, but not before the animal had "ingested" some of the toddler's flesh from her face.

"Her cheek was chewed up very badly," Bolline added. "The dog ingested some of her face."

Emily was rushed from her house in Slidell to a local hospital and then transferred to the Children's International Pediatrics Hospital in New Orleans.

Emily suffered muscle damage that may prevent her from ever smiling again. She also has wounds on her cheeks, lips, and inside her mouth. Emily will require multiple reconstruction surgeries.

Tater Tot was euthanized by animal control after the dog attack.

Bolline said the whole reason that they started fostering Tater Tot was because Emily desperately wanted a puppy.

The mother said Emily now has a "fear of animals."

Bolline said, "Every once in a while, she's in a lot of pain she'll point to herself and say, 'Mommy I die, mommy I die. Puppy was hungry,' which is heartbreaking."

A GoFundMe was launched to raise money to pay for medical treatment for the young girl.

"March 16th my 3-year-old daughter got attacked by a pitbull. We were fostering a dog and that morning as Emily was softly petting the dog it attacked her," the profile on the crowdfunding website reads. "The doctors say she will not be able to smile or eat on one side of her face and her tear duct may have been damaged as well. We were discharged yesterday but will need multiple reconstruction surgery. Anything helps, God bless."

Bolline said, "I will never trust a dog ever again. It snapped for no reason."

In February, a 6-year-old girl was mauled during a dog attack, The brutal assault in Maine forced the little girl to undergo a 12-hour emergency surgery and require more than 1,000 stitches.

A family friend said of the girl, "Her salivary glands aren’t working … and doctors said she won't be able to smile again. Muscles are too damaged."

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7-year-old Louisiana girl 'viciously' mauled to death by neighbor's pit bull, dog's owner arrested



A 7-year-old Louisiana girl was mauled to death by a neighbor's pit bull. After the deadly attack, the dog's owner was arrested.

Around 6:35 p.m. on Friday, a pit bull "viciously" attacked Sadie Davila while the first-grader was playing outside a family member's house, according to arrest documents. The dog belonged to a neighbor about 150 yards from where Sadie was playing. The yard did not have fences to contain the pit bull, according to the police report.

A family member attempted to stop the pit bull attack by beating the animal with a cane, but the dog continued to maul the young girl.

Sadie was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Medical staff at the hospital told investigators that the 7-year-old girl suffered "numerous dog bites to her face and substantial damage to her skull."

"My baby. She is only 7 years old. My mini me. The light in my heart. Words don’t exist for what this feeling is. My family is shattered. Please pray for us. Pray they press charges on the dog’s owners & hold them responsible," Sadie’s mother, Haley Anselmo, wrote on Facebook.

The Advocate reported that the girl's father, Mikey Davila, posted an Instagram story that said, "RIP my sweet Sadie Elizabeth, 7-years-old & taken from us in the most violent way. The world is a cruel place. You were the light in my heart."

Woodlawn Elementary remembered Sadie as a young girl "blossoming in the dawn of her life."

East Baton Rouge schools Superintendent Sito Narcisse said, "Young Sadie was blossoming in the dawn of her life and education with so much promise awaiting her. It is difficult to comprehend the enormous pain and remorse her family and friends are experiencing in the wake of this tragedy."

Sadie's first-grade teacher Grace Feucht said in a statement, "Sadie was fierce and spunky, but she was also tender hearted and kind. She brought energy and joy into my class every single time she stepped in the door. She was fearless and would sing her heart out in front of her classmates."

East Baton Rouge Animal Control officers found and captured the dog later that night. The pit bull had blood around its face and mouth, according to the affidavit. A "substantial" amount of blood was found in the yard where Sadie had been playing.

East Baton Rouge Animal Control director Daniel Piatkiewicz said the dog was euthanized on the night of Sadie's death.

The dog's owner, Erick Lopez, was arrested and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on Saturday, according to East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks. He was charged with negligent homicide, according to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office.

Lopez told police that he wasn't home during the time of the dog attack and that he regularly allows the pit bull to roam around the neighborhood.

Investigators determined that Lopez "failed to confine or restrain his dog, which unlawfully entered a neighboring property and attacked a 7-year-old female victim, causing her death."

East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said, "This is an awful, heart-breaking tragedy. My heart goes out to this family, and they will remain in my prayers."

Sheriff: 7-year-old girl dies after pit bull attack in Baton Rouge www.youtube.com

In October, two small children in Tennessee were mauled to death by the family's two pit bulls. The mother of the children was also attacked by the pit bulls. She survived the dog attack, but needed medical attention at a local hospital.

There are over 4.5 million people bitten by dogs in the U.S. each year, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Almost 1 in 5 people who are bitten by a dog require medical attention, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Between 2005 and 2020, there were 568 Americans killed by dogs, according to DogsBite.org – a national dog bite victim's advocacy group. Of those fatalities by dogs, pit bulls were reportedly responsible for 67% of those deaths.

There were reportedly 26 fatal dog attacks in 2022.

Time magazine reported in 2014, "Pit bulls make up only 6% of the dog population, but they’re responsible for 68% of dog attacks and 52% of dog-related deaths since 1982, according to research compiled by Merritt Clifton, editor of Animals 24-7, an animal-news organization that focuses on humane work and animal-cruelty prevention."