October 7, 2008

A two-month-old baby died after his great-aunt's pet dog attacked him on Saturday night in Hawaii. (Pet Pulse Photo Illustration by Mike Lloyd)

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- A pet dog that killed a two-month old boy in Hawaii has been euthanized, marking the close to the first fatal dog attack case in O'ahu in recent years.

The baby, Iopeka Liptak, died from head injuries within minutes of the attack on Saturday night.

The baby's 31-year-old mother and another relative present at the home were also treated for dog bites.

The family dog, described as a medium-sized, mixed-breed female, apparently attacked the infant without provocation.

"We have no information on this dog," Humane Society spokeswoman Kawehi Yim told The Honolulu Advertiser. "No microchip, no tag, nothing. There's no identification on this animal."

The dog, Penelope Rose, belonged to the baby's great-aunt, Opal Sao.

Sao says she left the baby sleeping on her bed when she went to her kitchen for a drink of water on Saturday night. The dog was initially by Sao's side, and when she realized the dog had left the room she ran to the bedroom.

Sao found the dog leaning over the mauled baby, which she then picked up and handed to her niece.

"The dog went wild," Sao told The Honolulu Advertiser. "Penny grabbed my niece's leg. She was attacking her. I attacked the dog to get her off. Penny's behavior was something I'd never seen before. I didn't recognize her."

The dog was placed into isolation early Sunday morning and was then euthanized Monday afternoon at Sao's request.

The dog, which had never attacked anyone, lived mainly outside in a kennel with Sao's other dogs.

"The dog was in the kennel 90 percent of the time, except for the past month, and then he was in the yard," neighbor Bob Vidinha reportedly said.

One dog trainer of O'ahu, Dave Pang, says basic training and socialization might have prevented this attack.

"Proper training makes the difference between having a good dog and a bad dog," he said. "That's the only way they know how to respond [if not trained] by attacking."

This is the first time O'ahu, the third largest of the Hawaiian islands, has seen a fatal dog attack, police officials say.

Tragedy also struck in Kaufman County, Texas, last week, when three dogs attacked an eight-year-old girl and her 54-year-old grandmother.

The grandmother saw the dogs -- two pit bulls and a mixed-breed dog -- maul the girl and tried to intervene, only suffering injuries herself.

The girl had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital but but she and her grandmother are expected to make a full recovery.

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Pet Pulse Reporter Amy Lieberman, The Honolulu Advertiser and CBS11tv.com contributed to this article.