An American Staffie- Great Dane mix dog bit a newborn baby to death in San Diego, police have confirmed.
The three-day-old boy was in bed with his parents who were watching TV when the mother coughed and startled the two-year-old dog called Polo.
It reacted by biting the child, said Sergeant Tu Nguyen of the San Diego police child abuse unit.
“The mom coughed unexpectedly and it startled the dog, which bit the baby, causing traumatic injury,” The parents were able to separate the dog from the baby and they rushed him to the hospital but they were not able to save him,” he said.
The dog was taken into custody by San Diego County Animal Services, officials said. Any dog that bites a person is placed in quarantine by animal control, said Dan DeSousa, deputy director of the agency.
DeSousa said the family can direct animal control to euthanise the dog or they can claim the dog at the end of a 10-day quarantine, but so far the agency has not received any instructions.
If the family do not reclaim Polo, he will be put down.
Daily Mirror.