Chestnut
We can weep until the cows come home at all these tragic, senseless deaths, but this will keep happening unless they bring in strong legislation on the breeding and keeping of dogs. I remember campaigning for that back in the 1990s. Nothing was done then and here we are 30 years later and things keep getting worse. How many children have been torn to death by dogs since the 1990s? The politicians (dog lovers presumably) have blood on their hands. This could have been dealt with long ago, and that makes me very angry and despairing at the same time.
We don't know the circumstances yet around this latest tragedy. But, in general, I think government(s) are wary of upsetting voters with the legislation that would be needed to put greater safeguards in place.
And, as others have pointed out, the responsible owners (and I think there are a few posting on GN) would be the ones adhering to legislation - and they are not the people who are the problem.
There have been instances where children have been injured and killed by their own family's pet, and it sometimes comes to light that the animal was a 'rescue' dog - the very fact of it being a rescue animal might indicate that its previous history makes it unsuitable to live in an environment where there are children - children are also unpredictable in their behaviour and can't be expected to understand animal 'psychology'. We can record the facts of a dog's history, but the animal can't tell you how it feels, it cannot convey its trauma.
And then there's the breeders...
I don't know what the answer is. But the statistics seem to indicate it's a particular type of dog that is most often involved in these attacks. The type that "wouldn't harm a fly" and is "so gentle and loving". Until it's aggravated by something and then another person becomes the victim of its powerful body and teeth...