The teenage aunt of a 13-month-old boy mauled to death by a rottweiler bravely fought to rescue the tot from the jaws of the 10-stone dog, police said today.
Little Archie-Lee Andrew Hirst was snatched from the arms of a seven-year-old girl in the yard of his grandparents' house, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, yesterday.
His 16-year-old aunt, who was upstairs in the house when she was alerted to the attack, battled the dog - described by police as weighing "in the region of seven to 10 stone" - as it savaged the child. After failing to wrestle Archie-Lee from the two-and-a-half year old female rottweiler the aunt called the emergency services.
Paramedics scaled a 7ft fence surrounding the yard, where the dog lived, to attend to the child. He was taken to nearby Pinderfields General Hospital at 3.40pm yesterday but was pronounced dead at 9.10pm.
Detective Superintendent Steve Payne, who is leading the investigation, said: "I have to pay tribute to the auntie, who attempted to rescue the child from the rottweiler.
"She struck the rottweiler a number of times, but it wouldn't let go of the child.
"She then returned into the premises and got her mobile phone and alerted the emergency services".
He added that the dog had not acted aggressively before: "It is a common pedigree breed. It is not a dangerous dog by dangerous dog definition, and lots of families all over the country will have similar dogs that don't cause any problems.
"It has mixed with the family. Whilst it lives in the yard, it is a pet, it is in no way a guard dog, and there has been no previous signs of any aggression from this dog. It was completely unpredictable.
"Clearly the death of any young child is a tragedy. In these circumstances it is even more of a tragedy for the family. This wasn't expected — it is nobody's fault."
Armed officers attended the house within nine minutes of the emergency call. They found the rottweiler in an agitated state, "clearly representing a potential danger to others", and the animal was destroyed.
A post mortem examination carried out today showed Archie-Lee died from multiple injuries consistent with a dog attack. At the time of the attack the aunt was in the house with Archie-Lee and two other girls aged six and seven.
The seven-year-old is thought to have been carrying Archie-Lee into the back yard to stroke the dog when he was snatched. Archie-Lee had been dropped off at his grandparents' house for the Christmas week, beginning on Christmas Day.
He was last seen by his parents on December 26 th.
PA