Toddler Tragically Mauled, Help Family Recover

I'm Linnea, grandmother of Felicity on her mother's side. Below is the account of what happened the day of the mauling. Everything you'll read happened in less than 10 minutes. Both parents (and every family member) have accepted full responsibility for what happened and actions have already been taken to eliminate any future occurrences. They are an incredibly loving and devoted family and always have been.

Felicity's mother addresses the top 5 questions that have been asked:


#1 “Why was the baby left alone with the puppies?”
#2 “Where were the parents?”
#3 "Why didn't anyone hear?"
#4 "Were the puppies ever violent?"
#5 “What happened?”


We; me, my husband, my 13 year old daughter Samantha, my 10 (soon to be 11 year old) daughter Daisy, Felicity (2 years old), and our son Daryl (whose first birthday was the following day) were all outside as a family doing yard work to prepare for our upcoming House Warming Party/Double Birthday Bash for our kids. I went in the house to take a shower then head to the store with a friend to get my son and daughter birthday presents. All 4 kids were outside with dad when I went in. Our 4 twelve week old puppies were also outside. We had the puppies for 3 weeks and they'd never given us any reason to not allow our children to play with them while supervised.


I took a quick shower and when I got out I saw Samantha was in the house on the couch with our 1 year old son. I told her to make sure to help dad with watching the babies since my friend and I were going alone to the store, they were going to be watching her son as well. I called my husband (on my phone) while grabbing my purse to tell him that Samantha was in the house with the babies. I yelled to the kids, “Bye guys, love you!” and jumped into my friend's car.


As we drove away my husband answered his phone, I told him I was leaving and that I should be gone for 3 hours since it’s an hour to the closest Dollar Tree in Bakersfield from Onyx, CA. I told him where the kids were and asked “You have Felicity, right?” He said “No, I think she followed everyone inside, I don’t see her.” We have half an acre for a backyard with 3 sheds, a chicken coup, and trees. I told him I would call Samantha to make sure she was with her then we hung up. My friend asked what happened so I said, “I have to call Sam because my husband doesn’t have Felicity.” My friend started to slow down and asked if she should turn around… we live off highway 178, the speed limit is 65 right after leaving our driveway. I said, “No, she’s probably in the house.” Just as I went to call my daughter she was calling me. All I heard was “dad…fel… bleeding.. hospital..'' She was breaking up because reception was spotty. My heart sank to my butt. My friend flipped a U-turn, my daughter was on speakerphone and we were trying to make out what she was saying when the call dropped. As we flipped the U-turn I saw our van racing down the road and my husband waving us to follow. I called him, he said, “I think Felicity's missing an eye! I found her unconscious laying under the peach tree! Call 911!” I called 911 and asked for a police escort. I had no information other than she is unconscious and possibly missing an eye. They kept me on the phone until I got to the hospital where we concluded that the only thing in the backyard that could have caused that kind of damage to her was the puppies.


 Back to my time in the house, I only took a 3 minute shower because my friend was waiting in the car. The reason I know it was only 3 minutes is because I texted my husband “Jumping in the shower.” 3 minutes before my phone call to him saying I was leaving to the store and asking if he had Felicity. Also, the phone call with my husband and the phone call with my daughter were literally within the same minute. All of this happened in a 10 minute span; from the time I went inside to shower to the time I called 911.


At that time, to our knowledge Felicity was never alone with the puppies. We have a doggie door, so they would come and go as they pleased. Tragically, we have all learned how everything can change in an instant when everything was going fine. 
I hope this answers all the questions. We accept full responsibility and accountability for this and are incredibly grateful for all that have extended their love, prayers, and financial support.