A 15-month-old boy has been mauled to death in a pit bull attack in Gonubie Farm, East London on Wednesday, November 23.

Police say the toddler was playing in a neighbour's yard when the dog attacked him.

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"According to police reports, the boy was playing with the neighbor’s dog on the farm when the pit bull spotted a passer-by walking his dog. After failing to leave the yard, the pit bull is alleged to have returned to the child and bit him in the upper body," said Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana.

He added that after the incident, the paramedics were called to transport the child to a nearby hospital, where he was reported to have succumbed to injuries sustained.

"Police have registered an inquest for investigation, and the incident has also been reported to the SPCA."

This tragic incident brings the tally of maulings across the country to three in less than two weeks and at least five reported incidents in November. 

News24 earlier reported that three pit bull terriers were beaten, stoned and set alight in Gatesville, Cape Town when residents attacked the dogs after they had mauled a girl on a field.

Three-year-old Keketso Innocent Saule was mauled to death by two pit bull terriers in Hennenman, in the Free State, on Sunday, 20 November. A week earlier, on 13 November, an eight-year-old boy was also mauled to death by a pit bull at his home in Vista Park in the Free State.

A petition by the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation is calling for the immediate ban on pit bulls being kept as pets. This follows the death of Storm Nuku (10) from Gqeberha who was attacked and killed by the family's two pit bulls in September.

- ISSUED BY SAPS