An attack dog mauled to death a Ukrainian woman, the country's Korrespondent magazine reported Thursday, marking the second case in as many months of a pet turning on its owner in the former Soviet republic, according to dpa. The woman, 81, reportedly encountered the animal during the night inside a family apartment in the western city Lviv. Police were called to the scene after the woman's grandson, hearing a commotion in the hall, saw the pet mauling the elderly woman after having knocked her down. The dog, described in the report as a "combat breed," was shot by law enforcement personnel as it was unwilling to abandon the corpse of the victim. The woman has suffered "massive wounds," according to the report. Charges of manslaughter and leash law violation were pending against the owner who, according to the report, had fed the dog poorly. The killing came on month after a Rotweiler in the southern city Feodosia attacked its owner, a 40-year-old woman, for unknown reasons. She died of blood loss. Police shot the dog. Fighting dog breeds have been popular with some Ukrainian homeowners because of poor police protection from burglars and robbers, and a Soviet-era tradition of ascribing wealth to a person able to feed a large dog.
