Pet pit bull mauls 82-year-old woman to death in Lucknow

Lucknow, July 13: An 82-year-old woman was mauled to death by her pet dog in the Bengali Tola area of Qaiserbagh locality in Lucknow. The dog, a pit bull, kept biting and attacking the elderly owner for over an hour before she died of the injuries.

The incident took place at around 6 am on Tuesday morning when Sushila Tripathi, a retired school teacher, was on the roof of her house when her pet Pit Bull attacked her.

According to the neighbours, the woman, was heard screaming and crying after which they tried to get inside the house. However, it was locked from the inside. It was only after her son reached home that Sushila was taken to Balrampur Hospital where doctors pronounced her dead.

Her body was sent for post mortem examination.

The woman lived with her younger son Amit. The family had two pet dogs, one Labrador and a Pitbull. On Tuesday morning, while Amit had gone to the gym, Sushila was taking a walk with her two pet dogs on the terrace of the house when the incident happened.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Qaiserbagh, Yogesh Kumar said, "One Sushila Tripathi, 82, of Bengali Tola locality was attacked by her pet dog. Her body was recovered and sent for post mortem examination. We are coordinating with the officials of Lucknow Municipal Corporation regarding the incident."

A team of the municipal corporation reached Tripathi's residence on Wednesday morning but found it locked.

Dr Abhinav Verma, a Veterinary Officer at LMC, said "Our team went to the house to check if the family had a license to keep Pit Bull dog as a pet. But because the house was locked it could not be ascertained."

The officials also said that they don't have information about the whereabouts of the dog and are trying to reach the son about it.

Pit Bull is medium-size, short hair dog, which is considered too ferocious to be kept as a house pet by untrained people. It is also listed as one of the 'dogs bred for fighting' in the UK's Dangerous Dogs Act, 1991, enacted for purposes of public safety.