The little girl, named Margarita Kanorskaya, was ambushed by a pack of stray dogs on a narrow street in Russia’s TransBaikal region and had no way to escape.
7-year-old girl mauled to death by pack of stray dogs while walking home from music class
Her leg was torn off and her face mutilated. Items of the girl’s clothing, including a red glove, lay strewn in the snow. Police had to chase away dogs to get close to her body which had been dragged into a vacant lot.
Footage shows the funeral of the tragic girl, attended by her classmates, which followed angry protests by residents of Domna village, about 20 miles southwest of the regional capital, Chita.
The girl was the only daughter of decorated air force pilot Major Anton Kanorsky, who was personally honored by Vladimir Putin for his bravery in Syria.
His wife, a teacher, was rushed to the hospital due to shock after the fatal attack on the child.
The village with a population of 6,300 is home to a military base.
When anger erupted in the village over the alleged failure of officials to heed warnings about violent dog packs, the region’s governor, Alexander Osipov, rushed to Domna to try to appease the locals.
“It is impossible to put our pain and grief into words,” he said. “On behalf of the whole region I express our support to the entire family of the child. We will thoroughly investigate the tragedy.”
He warned that Russian laws do not allow local officials to rid communities of stray dogs.
Locals have responded with vigilante groups dispatched to shoot stray dogs, reports say.
