An Alabama mother has shared her heartache after her two-year-old son was mauled to death by her neighbor's dogs.
Kayla Partain said her youngest child, Mark Alan, was attacked in her neighbor's yard in New Hope, Alabama, on Friday, leaving her “completely shaken.”
“The pain is unreal. I don't even feel like I'm living in reality. “My children’s hearts are so broken,” she said in a tragic Facebook post.
Neighbor Ricky Clark believes the tragic accident occurred after the boy opened the gate to his backyard alone and stressed his dogs have never harmed anyone.
Mark Alan Pertain, 2, was fatally mauled by his neighbor's dogs in a horror attack in New Hope, Alabama, on Friday
The toddler's devastated mother, Kayla, said she was “completely devastated” by the loss of her son
Neighbor Ricky Clark said he saw the child's lifeless body in his yard but was puzzled by the attack because his dogs had never harmed anyone in the past
When the fatal act of violence occurred in Clark's backyard on Friday, he said he was frightened by the blood-curdling screams of the stricken father outside his home.
“He knocked on the door really hard and said, 'That's my son, that's my son, I think he might be dead,'” Clark told WAAY.
He said he ran outside and found the two-year-old “lying on the ground” in front of his dog park and he was “not moving or doing anything and the gate was open.”
The Madison County Coroner's Office pronounced Mark dead at the scene, and Coroner Dr. Tyler Berryhill concluded he had suffered fatal bite wounds.
Clark said he was puzzled by the random attack because he claims his two dogs, a husky and a German shepherd, have never hurt anyone in the past.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he continued.
“My dogs never go out or bark at anyone or anything…if I had any idea that the dogs were going to hurt anyone, I wouldn't have had it.”
Clark speculated that the attack may have been fueled by the presence of a local bulldog, which he said has been running loose in the area lately.
Clark said he ran outside to his yard (pictured) after hearing the blood-curdling screams of the boy's father, where he found the toddler “not moving.”
“There's a brown bulldog running around in the neighborhood, and she was running around in the yard,” he said, adding that it wasn't uncommon to see the dog running loose in the neighborhood.
“When I was boarding my dog, I saw her running out of the yard and I don't know if she had anything to do with it.”
He felt the toddler may have seen the dogs and followed them into his backyard, which was locked but not locked, according to WAFF.
“Maybe he opened the gate and this other dog might have come in here with him and then they might all have charged at it and he might have been in the middle of it,” he said.
Clark's dogs were confiscated by animal control, which told him they would be returned in 10 days.
Mark's heartbroken mother Kayla said the devastating loss was something that would “never get easier” but said before the investigation was complete, “it looks like it was just a very tragic accident that no one was responsible for.” can be held responsible.”
“Last night our world was completely destroyed,” she wrote on Saturday.
“I lost my youngest child, my little self, my Mark Alan.” The pain is unreal. I don't even feel like I'm living in reality. “My children’s hearts are so broken.”
Mark's devastated mother said the toddler and her other son Cole (pictured together) were “thick as thieves” and since the tragedy Cole had “asked about him multiple times a day”.
The stricken mother said her older son Cole was disadvantaged by the loss of his young son and had not come to terms with the reality of the tragedy.
On Tuesday, she said in another post that the two toddlers were “always fat as thieves” and never spent a single day apart.
“Cole asked about him several times a day. “Either he just repeats his name or he asks where he is,” she said.
“It breaks my heart so much.” It sends the whole house into a spiral of emotions every time.”
A family friend shared a GoFundMe account to help the family cope with the financial burden of the loss.
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