A family dog mauled newborn twin sisters to death when their mother left the room briefly to talk to a friend.
Last Tuesday, June 23, Mother Elaine Novais, 29, a council worker who had tried to conceive for nine years, left her 26-day premature babies at home in Piripá, northeastern Bahia, Brazil.
She had not been gone for long when she heard the girls Anne and Analú crying. She rushed back to their bedroom but it was too late.
The girls’ had been brutally assaulted by the Labrador and American foxhound cross. Mrs Novais dragged the twins away from the jealous dog, but it had already done fatal damage on their abdomen.
A nurse who lived nearby performed first aid on the twins. One died instantly from her injuries and the other later died at Maria Pedreira Barbosa Municipal Hospital after going into cardiac arrest.
Mrs Novais collapsed from shock after the death of her babies and she had to be sedated at the hospital. Mrs Novais and her husband Regis, 32, had struggled for nine years to have children.
It is suspected that the dog, described as “docile,” had become jealous after not getting as much affection after the babies were born.
A family member claimed the dog “was left out in a way, and it no longer had the attention and affection of its owners provided before”, reports The Sun.
They added: ‘That could have caused some kind of jealousy and led the dog to attack the children.”
Anne and Analú died a day before their due date, having arrived by cesarean section a month early.
Police are investigating the deaths, but are yet to take testimonies from the devastated parents.
