A British toddler who died after being attacked by his parents’ pitbull on a Greek island has been named as Leon Dulia.
The two-year-old was killed by the rescue dog when he went to stroke it in his parents’ garden on the island of Zakynthos on Saturday.
Robbie Deeth, Leon’s mother, said that it took the dog “one bite” and “less than 30 seconds” to fatally maul her son after the family had returned from a shopping trip.
The family moved to Greece several years ago
Deeth claimed that their rescue pitbull had never shown itself to be aggressive prior to the incident but was frightened by hunters using whistles and firing guns in nearby woods when the attack happened.
“There had never been an issue with him since we got him and he let Leon tickle his tummy and stroke him and he would lick Leon’s face. He was never any trouble,” she told the Daily Mail.
“Something just flicked in him and in the 30 seconds we went inside to sort out the shopping Leon wandered off to see him and then it was all over — Leon was grabbed or shaken. It looked like he was bitten just the once.”
Deeth, who has been living on the island with her husband, Loukas, and her family since moving from Andover in Hampshire several years ago, said that the pitbull was chained in the garden when the attack took place.
“The pitbull had never been a problem before Saturday when it happened,” she said. “My husband had rescued the dog and he was chained up in the garden on a ten-metre chain, which backs on to woods, and there was hunting going on there at the time.
“You could hear gun noises and there were other dogs and the hunters were using whistles. I really do believe that’s what spooked the dog into attacking.”
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Deeth said that the first she knew of the attack was when her daughter came into the house and said: “Leon’s been bitten by the pitbull.”
She said: “We rushed outside and he was on the floor but the dog wasn’t over him, you could see Leon wasn’t moving but it was just one bite. We never thought this would happen.”
The parents said that they rushed Leon to the island’s main hospital, meeting an ambulance on the way. “They just took Leon off me and went to the hospital but I think it was already too late. He wasn’t going to survive and the doctors confirmed it when we got to the hospital,” she said.
“If I knew there was any danger, I would never have let Leon play with the pitbull, but he was fed and watered and had never been any trouble.”
She added: “Leon was every mother’s dream; he was the sweetest child you can imagine.”
The dog has been impounded by local officials while an investigation is under way.