A 33-year-old man has been found dead by the side of a road after being viciously mauled by his own American Bulldog while out on a walk, German police have confirmed.
Dog Guarded Owner's Body, Hampering Rescuers
The tragic incident occurred in Lohne, Germany, last Thursday. A passerby discovered the man's lifeless body in a roadside ditch. Emergency services arriving at the scene found the man's dog standing over his body, refusing to move, which significantly complicated efforts to provide medical assistance.
The dog, later identified as an American Bulldog, was eventually seized and is now being held in an animal shelter pending a behavioural assessment. A postmortem examination confirmed that the man's injuries were consistent with a fatal dog attack, leading investigators to conclude his own pet was responsible.
Expert Suggests Trigger for the Attack
Dog behaviour expert Vanessa Bokr, speaking to German magazine PetBook, provided a potential explanation for the sudden violence. She suggested the dog may have become agitated after being prevented from chasing something.
"I can well imagine that the dog might have seen something, become agitated, and its owner tried to stop it," Bokr said. "If the social dynamics within which interactions are acceptable aren't clearly defined, then things can escalate. The dog would have turned on its owner, attacked him, and then guarded the body."
A Spate of Recent Attacks Involving the Breed
This fatal incident is not isolated. American Bulldogs, a distinct and older breed than the banned American XL Bully in the UK, have been linked to several deadly attacks in recent years across Britain, Europe, and the United States.
In a separate and equally tragic event last weekend in the United States, a three-year-old boy, Beckett Brown, was mauled to death after climbing into an outdoor pen containing an American Bulldog at his grandmother's house in New York Mills, Minnesota. His grandmother, Kristen Nelson, was also injured trying to stop the attack. The dog was later euthanised at the family's request.
On the same weekend in the UK, a one-year-old baby in Doncaster's Hyde Park area suffered serious facial injuries and required urgent surgery after being bitten by the family's American Bulldog. South Yorkshire Police stated the dog had shown "previous aggression" towards the infant and is now in kennels awaiting further assessment.
These consecutive incidents have sparked renewed discussions about the ownership and management of powerful dog breeds, highlighting the unpredictable and potentially devastating consequences of attacks, even from family pets.
