US man killed by pet pit bull

A US dog owner was mauled to death by his pet pit bull on Christmas Day.

Mr Eddie Cahill, from Portage, Indiana, was discovered by his wife Bianca Rodriguez at about 5pm that day.

She found the dog, Fat Boy, with blood in its mouth and Mr Cahill's body in the living room, reported New York Daily News.

Her husband, 40, was bloodied and covered in dog bites.

Madam Rodriguez had been spending the day with her family but returned home around 5pm.

Mr Cahill was apparently killed by one of his eight-year-old dogs, reported local television WGNtv.com

"His dogs were his life," said his grieving wife to reporters.

She said her husband might have been playing keep-away with the dog bones they got the dog for Christmas and that it could have triggered the attack.

The family has another dog named Keylo who is also eight years old.

Madam Rodriguez told reporters she never had problems with her dogs before. She said she even let the dogs sleep in the same room as her daughters.

FREAK ACCIDENT

She called it a "freak accident".

"I don't want people to think bad of pit bulls. It was a freak accident. He loved the dogs," Madam Rodriguez told reporters.

WGN reported that Madam Rodriguez called animal control officers who tasered Fat Boy and then euthanised him at the request of the family.

"They were playful dogs," she said.

"One slept with the girls and the other slept with me and my husband."

Madam Rodriguez later told police she told her husband to euthanise the dog in the past because it was "violent and unpredictable".

This article was first published on December 30, 2014.
Get The New Paper for more stories.