GEORGIA -- A 21-month-old toddler has died after being attacked by seven pit bulls in coastal Georgia Wednesday, according to police.
Bryan County Sheriff Clyde Smith says the little girl was mauled in the yard by dogs her family owned.
Authorities say the unidentified girl's grandmother was asleep when she heard a commotion and saw the girl being attacked as she looked out of her window.
Authorities say the dogs, pit bulls and pit bull mixes, have been euthanized by Bryan County Animal Control.
At around 6.30pm, police received a 911 call from a home on Elm Drive in Ellabell about a toddler who had been attacked by a pack of dogs, Savannah Morning News reported.
The victim's grandmother, who was napping at the time, woke up to see the pit bulls mauling her granddaughter, but she could not stop the attack.
The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
It was unclear Wednesday night if charges would be filed in the case.
First responders said that by the time they arrived at the scene, the child's body was already cold, suggesting that she has been dead for some time.
Bryan County Deputy Sheriff James Beatty told the News that the girl's 12-year-old brother may have taken her out to play in the backyard and either forgot she was there, or thought she had returned.
Another way the toddler could have left the house was through the doggy door.
According to officials, the family had nine dogs in total, and the child often played with all of them.
The two dogs that were not involved in the attack were spared. They were not pit bulls.
(Daily Mail - March 28, 2013)
