Florida boy, 6, fatally mauled by pet dog on Fourth of July

A 6-year-old Florida boy has died after being attacked by his family’s dog on the Fourth of July — and experts say since the pet had no history of aggression, it’s possible that it was spooked by fireworks.

The child, whose name has not been released, was at his North Port home on Tuesday when he entered a bedroom and the dog, a three-year-old pitbull mix, bit him on the chest and head, WINK News reported.

 “The dog was in a bedroom, the child walked into the bedroom to get something. Next thing you know, people heard screaming and jumped into action,” North Port police spokesman Josh Taylor told WINK.

The boy was initially airlifted to Sarasota Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Tampa General, where he later succumbed to his injuries, the outlet said.

The boy and the dog lived in the same home, and the animal did not have any past episodes of aggression, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

Patrick Logue, master dog trainer and behavioral therapist at Bark Busters Home Dog Training, said it is a possibility that the animal acted out of fear of the holiday fireworks.

“When dogs are in distress, when they’re adrenalized, that’s never a good combination,” Logue told WINK.

“Then you add kids into the mix. Kids bring their own stress as any parent will tell you and their own sense of chaos. And it is just a bad situation especially when kids are unsupervised with dogs.”

Police said they haven’t been able to confirm that the dog was spooked by fireworks.

But Michael Groleau of the Suncoast Humane Society also agreed that the dog may have been in distress.

“Things are happening in the environment that are stressing the dog out and the dog can’t tell you or show you what’s wrong so, the dog’s going to use its mouth and that’s the apex of the situation where something bad is going to happen,” Groleau told ClickOrlando.

The dog involved has been taken into custody by Sarasota County Animal Services.