Girl, 2, Mauled To Death By Dog In West Mifflin
WEST MIFFLIN (KDKA)- Police are investigating a deadly dog mauling that left a 2-year-old girl dead in West Mifflin.
The attack took place around 8:45 p.m. Sunday at a home on Fleetwood Drive.
A pit bull bit Taylynn Devaugh, 2, of Forest Hills. She was rushed to Jefferson Memorial Hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
Little Taylynn DeVaughn was a lively toddler. Her father says she was his little pride and joy and loved her family a lot.
But now, she's gone after a pit bull mix mauled her at her mom's sister's boyfriend's house on Fleetwood Street in West Mifflin.
"She's just a lovely person, loves everybody," said Cory DeVaughn, Taylynn's father.
He says the whole family was at the house Sunday night. He said he was cooking dinner in the kitchen when all of a sudden, the dog attacked his daughter.
"I came out of the kitchen. He dropped her and she was gone, bleeding from here," Cory said.
When police and paramedics got to the scene, they transported her to Jefferson Regional Hospital where she was pronounced dead around 9:30 p.m. On Sunday. The dog was taken to a local kennel where it will be quarantined for a minimum of 10 days. It's unclear why the dog attacked Taylynn.
"For me to go through this, to hear last night and see her at the hospital, just not her, couldn't believe it was her and still don't believe it was her," Taylynn's godfather Kevin Jermay said.
"A lot of people who have kids gotta be careful whose house they take their child to, so it won't happened to your child what happened to mine," Cory said.
Eve Salimbene, an animal behavior technician, says young children should always be supervised around pets.
"Children and dogs are an odd mix," she said. "Children look funny to dogs, toddlers especially, they walk oddly, they speak oddly, they even smell differently. That can set off a dog."
Along with Allegheny County Police, the district attorney's office is helping out with the investigation.
It's unclear if the owner of the dog will face charges.
An autopsy is scheduled for later in the day Monday.
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