"When tragedies like the one in Acerra occur, where a 9-month-old baby girl died after being attacked by the family pitbull, we always wonder how it could have happened. Almost as if it were just a matter of fate. Unfortunately, this is almost always not the case. There are many factors that come into play and almost always the cause of the accidents are management problems due to a lack of awareness. A lack of knowledge that concerns both the characteristics of the dog that has been chosen to adopt or buy, and the correct way to manage it."
Andrea Sarria, president of the Order of Veterinary Surgeons, who has been leading the Northern Sardinia for a long time, intervenes in the case of little Giulia, killed by the family pitbull, while she was sleeping next to her father, as told by the parent who had fallen asleep without realizing the danger. Only after he woke up did the man notice the brutal attack. The rush to the hospital was useless, the little girl was already dead.
"Today, Tuesday, February 18, there will be an autopsy on the child's body," explains Sarria, "which will be attended by a multidisciplinary team that will include local forensic veterinarian colleagues in recognition of the professionalism and competence of veterinary medicine."
The National Federation of Italian Veterinary Orders (Fnovi) has launched an appeal to define institutional rules and strategies that encourage greater assumption of responsibility by those who decide to expand their family to one or more dogs. They are not all the same and this consideration should be the starting point of any reasoning. "We must take into account their ethological characteristics", underlines Fnovi, "and the potential implications for people's safety".
The appeal is accompanied by the willingness to be part of the working tables called to discuss accident prevention strategies. Canine aggression, veterinarians point out, can have various causes, such as a genetic basis. This refers to the type of dog: there are breeds selected over the centuries for hunting, for guarding places, for guarding animals and fighting. " It is inevitable that specimens that derive from these breeds, directly or as crosses, have the genes of their ancestors in their DNA, even if differently from them they perhaps live in an apartment. And then there are environmental factors, such as the ways in which a puppy is weaned and then raised, the environment in which it grows and becomes an adult, the lifestyles of those who adopt it, the presence of states of anxiety or fear and the onset of diseases."