A mother of four has spoken out about the horrible experience she went through as several pups attacked and mangled her daughter in a matter of minutes, leaving her daughter’s ear with chunks missing and her face covered in scratches.
Michele Peden is from California, US, where she currently lives with her husband and four children.
In May of 2022, they made the life-changing decision to fulfill a long-held desire to become pet owners by taking in four Queensland Labrador puppies, which they named Gideon, Amarah, Negan, and Keerah.
Michele went shopping while her husband stayed at home with the children in order to finish preparing for their daughter Felicity’s third birthday.
But not then ten minutes after she left, she got the phone call that no parent ever wants to receive: her daughter had been attacked by the ferocious puppies.
Michele was shaken to her core when she arrived at the hospital and saw Felicity comatose with severe lacerations, bloody scratches all over her face, and pieces missing from her ear.
She added that they had also disfigured her face, neck, and upper torso after eating her ear and mutilating her.
“All I could smell was puppy drool all over her head, which made me feel sick to my stomach and made me want to cry,” she said.
“They had eaten her ear and mutilated her face, neck, and upper body,” she said.
“All I could smell was puppy slobber all over her head, which made me want to cry and I felt sick to my stomach.
“There were stitches in multiple places, including her lip, neck, and throat.”
“I cried, my heart was broken and I felt like I was going to pass out – the feeling of not being able to do anything to help my baby was overwhelming.”
“I blamed myself and the guilt of not seeing the signs was overwhelming. “At the time, I had no other information but I concluded that the only thing in the backyard that could have caused that kind of damage was the puppies.”
The parents have published their account of the tragedy on social media, where it has since gained widespread attention and is intended to help prevent it from happening to any other family in the future.