Toddler seriously injured in rottweiler attack

A 3-year-old boy was seriously injured when four rottweilers attacked him on Sportlaan in the Drenthe town of Nieuw-Buinen on Tuesday afternoon. He was rushed to the hospital with severe bite wounds.

According to the police, the boy was playing in the dog owner's garden when the dogs escaped and jumped over a fence between the dog house and the garden. The dogs bit the boy.

The owner of the home sped to help the boy, aided by neighbors.

"I heard a woman scream and different dog barks than usual", an upstairs neighbor, who sped to get the dogs off the toddler, said to newspaper AD afterwards. "I ran downstairs, put on my work shoes, grabbed a crowbar and an aluminum tube and ran to the garden." He pushed and punched the dogs off the boy while his wife called 112. Eventually he managed to grab the child and run into the street with him.

The child was rushed to the University Medical Center Groningen. His current condition is unknown. Other children were also playing int he garden at the time. They were unhurt.

In consultation with the animal police, the municipality and the dogs' owner, it was decided that the four dogs should be put down. Two dogs that weren't involved in the incident were taken to the shelter for a behavioral study, which will reveal what will happen to them.