The Austrian army says a 31-year-old soldier appears to have been killed by two service dogs he was tasked with feeding.
The army said an officer spotted the two Belgian Shepherd dogs running loose at the barracks south of Vienna early Thursday. The fatally injured staff sergeant was later found inside the dogs’ kennel.
An investigation has been launched into the cause of the attack.
Austrian public broadcaster ORF quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman saying one of the dogs was a fully trained service dog while the second, aged about six months, was about to undergo training.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has expressed his condolences to the victim’s family and to his fellow soldiers.
The Austrian army has 170 service dogs.
Research On Dog Bite Incidents
About 1,000 U.S. citizens require emergency care treatment for serious dog bite injuries on a daily basis, according to Dogsbite.org. Annually, about 9,500 citizens are hospitalized due to dog bite injuries.
In a 13-year analysis, the website says that 433 fatal dog attacks in the United States, German Shepherds accounted for 4.6 percent of fatal attacks.
The report compiled fatal dog attacks from the 13-year data set which showed that 48 percent of the victims were children aged 9 or younger.
NTD staff contributed to this report.
