Girl, 5, Dies After Being Bitten by Family Rottweiler

A Monterey girl has died after being mauled by her family dog in one of two separate attacks along the Central Coast in recent days.

The 5-year-old was walking with her grandmother and brother in a field when a lizard startled them Friday afternoon. In the commotion, at least one of the family’s two large Rottweilers pounced, biting the girl’s head and body, police spokesman Randy Taylor said.

She was immediately taken to the hospital, but died Friday night.

The grandmother was shaken and couldn’t tell authorities whether one or both dogs attacked.

“It was spontaneous,” said Mike Ventimiglia, a chief at the Monterey Fire Department. “It wasn’t like there were mad dogs running about. It was just a freak moment.”

That mauling came less than 24 hours after a 5-year-old Salinas girl was attacked by her family’s Doberman pinscher.

That girl was mauled so severely Thursday that part of her scalp was pulled from her skull, which the dog also fractured. She was admitted to the intensive care unit at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital in critical condition, but by Saturday was recovering, according to a hospital nursing supervisor.