A mum from Pennsylvania in the US endured a horrific death when she was savagely attacked by eight of the horror hybrid creatures she kept as pets.
Sandra L Piovesan’s body was found by her own daughter at her home in Salem Township, having been brutally mauled to death by her hybrid wolves.
The 50-year-old was killed by her own pet wolfdogs, an extremely volatile breed created by crossing a domestic dog with a grey wolf, eastern wolf, red wolf, or Ethiopian wolf to produce a hybrid.
Heartbreakingly, her body was discovered on Monday, 30 April 2012, by her daughter inside the dogs’ electrified enclosure, which Sandra had constructed herself to keep the hybrid animals contained, according to Tribe Live.
An autopsy revealed Sandra bled out after raising the dogs as pets before they turned on her, according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office. However, the coroner noted that oddly, the dogs seemed to have halted their attack, reports the Mirror US.
Dr Cyril H. Wecht added the most severe injuries were to her scalp and legs, stating: “It appears they (the wolves) stopped their attack,” he said. “It’s curious.”
Wecht suggested Piovesan likely died within minutes of the initial onslaught. Westmoreland County Humane Agent Elaine Gower reiterated her concerns about the perils of raising hybrid wolves as pets, with the expert claiming she had warned Sandra it was only a matter of time before the highly unpredictable animals turned on her.
The post-mortem examination has put to rest speculation that Sandra may have fallen ill whilst in the pen with her dogs, suggesting they only attacked her after she was already dead, or had been motionless for some time.
“There is no evidence, in my opinion, of a heart attack, stroke, or any other condition involving a natural death that would have rendered her unconscious or cause her to become incapacitated,” said Wecht.
Other animal experts are in agreement with Gower that hybrid wolves pose a greater danger to humans than wild wolves as hybrids are more likely to attack.
Gower revealed a friend of Sandra was attacked by one of the dogs about two years ago, but the friend failed to lodge an official complaint.
“We were all scared that someday, somehow, those wolves would escape that pen and hurt some child or someone,” Gower expressed. Sandra had successfully registered the animals at the county treasurer’s office as mixed-breed dogs, according to county records.
“With Sandra, the problem we had was when we were looking into something, she identified them as dogs. But when she sold the pups, they were identified as wolves,” Gower explained.
Gower admitted she doesn’t know how many puppies Sandra sold nor does she know the identities of the buyers. Sandra’s eight dogs were euthanised so authorities could retrieve her body from inside the pen.
“They had to be killed. There was no way of knowing which one killed her,” Gower stated. He added that two adult Rottweilers, owned by Piovesan and kept inside the house, were confiscated and will be placed in an animal sanctuary.
Officials clarified that these Rottweilers were not the dogs that had been bred with the wolves to produce the hybrids.