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<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 14pt"> <span style="color: #FF0000">Animal lovers mauled to death by wild dogs</span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 11pt">
Georgia authorities capture 16 mixed-breed canines as autopsy shows seniors died from multiple bites</span>
August 19, 2009
Kate Brumback
Associated Press
<span style="font-style: italic">One of the dogs captured after the fatal mauling was being held at an animal shelter Aug. 18, 2009 in Danielsville, Ga. At least 16 dogs were seized.
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LEXINGTON, GA.– A shredded piece of shirt, some strands of hair and bloodstained dirt are all that remain along the rural stretch of road where authorities believe a pack of wild dogs fatally mauled an elderly couple.
Sherry Schweder, a 65-year-old animal lover, was taking an evening stroll when she was attacked. Her husband, Lothar Schweder, 77, a retired professor, had gone out in search of her.
Preliminary autopsy results showed the couple died from multiple animal bites.
Paramedics who came to the grisly scene Saturday found the suspected attackers standing guard. While it's unclear exactly what happened because there were no witnesses, officials have rounded up 16 dogs they believe were involved.
It was the same group of medium-sized, mixed-breed dogs Sherry Schweder worried about, wondering if anyone was taking care of them as she saw them wander around.
Experts say the attack is extremely rare – so rare "you are more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning than by a dog," said Adam Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States.
The feral dogs didn't belong to anyone, but a man who owns a house at the end of the road had been feeding them, said Oglethorpe County sheriff's Capt. Shalon Huff.
The man told authorities the dogs never behaved aggressively toward him, and he did not believe the dogs had killed the couple.
"Sometimes the pack mentality can play a role. One dog gets aroused and that revs up his buddies," Goldfarb said.
The dogs were aggressive toward authorities who rounded them up using traps and tranquillizers, Huff said.
At one point, a group of them cornered two people against a vehicle. There were no signs the dogs were rabid, Huff said.
Authorities believe Sherry Schweder went for an evening walk near her home on Friday.
Later, Lothar Schweder went looking for her in his car and came across his wife's body.
There were signs of a scuffle, several shoe prints and what appeared to be paw prints in the mud, authorities said.
He may have tried to pull out his cellphone before he succumbed to the attack, Madison County Coroner James Mathews said.
A group of Jehovah's Witnesses walking in the same area discovered the bodies Saturday morning.
There have been at least 20 deadly dog attacks in the United States this year, 22 in 2008 and 33 in 2007, said the Humane Society's Goldfarb, compared with about 75 million owned dogs.
Dogs that attack typically are not spayed or neutered, which can contribute to aggression, Goldfarb said. The dogs in the attack are not believed to have been sterilized.
One of the couple's sons, Mark Schweder, described his parents as "kind people who lived a simple life." He said his parents, especially his mother, were animal lovers. They had seven dogs. He also did not want charges to be brought against the man who fed the dogs.
"It's just a horrible accident," Mark Schweder said.
By last night, 11 dogs and five puppies had been taken to the Madison-Oglethorpe animal shelter, where the staff was beginning court-ordered euthanizations.
<span style="font-size: 11pt">
Georgia authorities capture 16 mixed-breed canines as autopsy shows seniors died from multiple bites</span>
August 19, 2009
Kate Brumback
Associated Press
<span style="font-style: italic">One of the dogs captured after the fatal mauling was being held at an animal shelter Aug. 18, 2009 in Danielsville, Ga. At least 16 dogs were seized.
</span>
LEXINGTON, GA.– A shredded piece of shirt, some strands of hair and bloodstained dirt are all that remain along the rural stretch of road where authorities believe a pack of wild dogs fatally mauled an elderly couple.
Sherry Schweder, a 65-year-old animal lover, was taking an evening stroll when she was attacked. Her husband, Lothar Schweder, 77, a retired professor, had gone out in search of her.
Preliminary autopsy results showed the couple died from multiple animal bites.
Paramedics who came to the grisly scene Saturday found the suspected attackers standing guard. While it's unclear exactly what happened because there were no witnesses, officials have rounded up 16 dogs they believe were involved.
It was the same group of medium-sized, mixed-breed dogs Sherry Schweder worried about, wondering if anyone was taking care of them as she saw them wander around.
Experts say the attack is extremely rare – so rare "you are more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning than by a dog," said Adam Goldfarb, a spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States.
The feral dogs didn't belong to anyone, but a man who owns a house at the end of the road had been feeding them, said Oglethorpe County sheriff's Capt. Shalon Huff.
The man told authorities the dogs never behaved aggressively toward him, and he did not believe the dogs had killed the couple.
"Sometimes the pack mentality can play a role. One dog gets aroused and that revs up his buddies," Goldfarb said.
The dogs were aggressive toward authorities who rounded them up using traps and tranquillizers, Huff said.
At one point, a group of them cornered two people against a vehicle. There were no signs the dogs were rabid, Huff said.
Authorities believe Sherry Schweder went for an evening walk near her home on Friday.
Later, Lothar Schweder went looking for her in his car and came across his wife's body.
There were signs of a scuffle, several shoe prints and what appeared to be paw prints in the mud, authorities said.
He may have tried to pull out his cellphone before he succumbed to the attack, Madison County Coroner James Mathews said.
A group of Jehovah's Witnesses walking in the same area discovered the bodies Saturday morning.
There have been at least 20 deadly dog attacks in the United States this year, 22 in 2008 and 33 in 2007, said the Humane Society's Goldfarb, compared with about 75 million owned dogs.
Dogs that attack typically are not spayed or neutered, which can contribute to aggression, Goldfarb said. The dogs in the attack are not believed to have been sterilized.
One of the couple's sons, Mark Schweder, described his parents as "kind people who lived a simple life." He said his parents, especially his mother, were animal lovers. They had seven dogs. He also did not want charges to be brought against the man who fed the dogs.
"It's just a horrible accident," Mark Schweder said.
By last night, 11 dogs and five puppies had been taken to the Madison-Oglethorpe animal shelter, where the staff was beginning court-ordered euthanizations.
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