The two pit bulls who fatally attacked two young children and mauled their mother have been euthanized.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office has announced that the two dogs, Mia and Cheech, have been euthanized after Wednesday’s horrific attack on their family’s Sylvan Road home, near Memphis.
Mia and Cheech were part of the family for eight years with no violent incidents. Eight years ago, Colby shared a photo of two pit bulls on Facebook, calling the animals “house lions” while chatting with Kirstie.
It’s unclear if those are the same dogs behind Wednesday’s attack.
The dogs fatally attacked Hollace Dean Bennard, five months, and Lilly Jane Bennard, two, around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Their mother, Kirstie Jane Bennard, 30, of Millington, has since been hospitalized. Her condition has changed from critical to stable.
Bennard’s husband, who has been married for five years, Colby, who runs a Harley-Davidson dealer in Memphis, was unharmed. It is not clear where he was at the time of the attack.
Bennard’s in-laws Jeff Gibson said in a Facebook post that the attack lasted “10 minutes” and “she never gave up trying to save these babies.”
Her best friend, Kelsey Gallini told… Fox news“That attack lasted longer than any of us could have ever imagined. I can promise you that those children were her world, and if there was the slightest suspicion of danger, she would never have had those dogs around her children.
“Those kids were everything to them, and they just have a really long journey ahead of them.”
DailyMail.com contacted Gallini for comment, but she declined.
Mia and Cheech, the two pit bulls who fatally attacked two small children and mauled their mother, have been euthanized. The family called their dogs “house lions” and it is not known why they became aggressive on Wednesday. Colby shared this photo in 2016, but it’s unclear if they’re the same dogs
Mia and Cheech were part of the family for eight years with no violent incidents
Kirstie Jane Bennard, 30, of Millington (right) was left with ‘countless stitches and bite marks all over her body, including her face’ and both her ‘arms and legs have been completely linked.’ She fought the dogs for 10 minutes
Hollace Dean Bennard, five months, and Lilly Jane Bennard, two, were pronounced dead at the scene after being attacked
Bennard has since woken up and is said to be ‘confused at first’ but is now ‘aware’ of what happened.
Gibson also revealed that the mother of two has a “countless number of stings and bite marks all over her body, including her face” and that both of her “arms and legs are completely bandaged/wrapped.”
Gibson, who called the mother a “f**king hero,” said her injuries “will cause no lasting damage, except a heart that will never heal.”
Little Lilly looks at her little brother in a recent photo the family shared. A family friend said the kids ‘adored each other’
Lilly wears a unicorn outfit while her grandfather Michael holds hers in an old photo
A family friend started a GoFundMe page for the family to help them “get back on their feet.” It raised nearly $29,000 in one day, surpassing its $20,000 goal
A family friend told DailyMail.com on Thursday that the respiratory therapist is “monitoring there,” but declined to talk further. The father Colby (right) was reportedly unharmed
The family has posted photos of the animals (pictured in 2016 and 2017) on their social media, showing the dogs around their home
The two small children “adored each other,” Gallini said.
“They were perfect, they were beautiful,” she told Fox.
The children’s autopsies are still pending, Fox News reported. Family friend Debbie Harvey told DailyMail.com that details about the funeral have not been released, but there will be a candlelight vigil soon.
A family friend started a GoFundMe page for the family to help them ‘get back on their feet’. It has raised nearly $29,000 in one day, surpassing its $20,000 goal, which has already been raised at least twice.
The attack took place around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the family’s $360,000 five-bedroom Sylvan Road home in Millington, Tennessee — near Memphis.
Gallini posted on Facebook asking for “prayers,” saying that “everyone around her could really use that.”
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she wrote in a separate post.
Her friends took to Facebook to say their prayers and send her their love
Gallini also revealed in a response to a WREG Facebook post about the tragedy that she was outraged that news outlets were reporting the attack, wondering why “something so traumatic and unimaginable [had] to become so famous.’
Friend Lacie Snider responded to the post on social media, writing: “I feel like the phone call I had with Caitlin [Killebrew] wasn’t real.’ Killebrew is another friend of the family.
Killebrew wrote, alongside a photo of the two at her wedding, “My dear friend – I love you.”
Another wrote: ‘Pray so hard! Shock is an understatement!’
Many others said they were “heartbroken,” “bewildered,” and sent “great prayers.”
Pit bulls are known for having one of the strongest bites, next to Mastiffs and Rottweilers, according to the dog diary.
The breed is also on the list of dogs that bite the most, alongside Chihuahuas, German Shepherds, and Cocker Spaniels.
The Sheriff’s Office on site on Wednesday. Pit bulls are known for having one of the strongest bites, next to Mastiffs and Rottweilers, according to the Canine Journal
The children were pronounced dead on the spot. Their mother was also seriously injured