Dog Mauls Grandmother To Death: Woman, 59, Killed By Pit Bull In Front Of Grandson

A 2-year-old boy watched as the family dog mauled his grandmother to death in Madison County, Ohio. The tragedy happened Monday afternoon. According to WCPO 9, Cindy Whisman, a 59-year-old woman, was mauled and killed by the family’s pet pit bull, Polo. A neighbor dialed 911 who witnessed the attack around 1:30 pm.

Julie Whisman, Cindy Whisman’s daughter, tells the news source:

“As far as I know my neighbor told me she saw her and the dog outside. She thought they were playing back and forth like this, then all of a sudden she saw her on the ground and kept saying ‘Polo, Polo,’ because that was the dog’s name, and she was rolling over, so (the neighbor) called 911 and then she didn’t see her no more.”

Julie was at work during the time of the attack. She rushed home after getting a call that her mother was mauled by the dog.

Wayne Walker, a close neighbor, ran into the Whisman’s backyard and beat the dog off with his walking stick. At that point, Cindy was dead.

Walker recounts:

“Whenever I hit him he yelped and took off running straight into their housse. I looked at (Cindy Whisman)… she’s gone.”

Cindy was bit several times on her face, neck and body, according to the sheriff’s office. Julie Whisman says another dog and her 2-year-old son were in the backyard at the time of the mauling.

Julie identified both dogs as pit bulls; the dog that killed her mother is the one they own. The dog has been around Cindy since he was a puppy.

“It just doesn’t add up to me,” she said. “My son could sit on him, lay on him.”

Cindy and her grandson were very close and spent lots of time together, family members say.

“She was my best friend, she was the greatest person to me,” Julie says of her mother.

Considering what the 2-year-old has been through, he was reportedly “holding up” well Monday night. He was uninjured in the mauling incident.

“These type of tragedies are happening way too often, family pet or not,” says Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.

The pit bull is now at Butler County Animal Friends Humane Society. He’ll probably be put down, but it may not be until after the investigation concludes. Julie Whisman has the right to a hearing if she wants the dog back, otherwise the animal will be euthanized.

Opposing Views includes what the dog warden’s office noticed when they arrived to pick up the dog. They say the dog had blood on his chest and was “very aggressive” while they gained control of him.

According to the Whismans, the pit bull never showed signs of aggressiveness before it mauled and killed the woman.

[Photo Credit: Facebook via Daily Mail]