It’s one of those things pet owners talk about – dying at home and becoming a meal for their beloved fur companions.
A report out of Staten Island, New York, has shown that this has happened. A woman returned home to find her mum dead and their two dogs feeding on the body.
The victim was 68-year-old Daisie Bradshaw who was pronounced dead at the scene. The dogs were owned by the daughter but lived at the same address.
Police have not confirmed whether the woman died from natural causes and the dogs were feeding on her because they were hungry, or if she was attacked by the dogs.
Media reports claimed that Bradshaw’s body was covered with cuts and bruises and police said there were ‘defensive wounds’ suggesting she might have fought off the animals.
Daisie lived with four dogs but two had been locked in a bathroom. The dogs involved in the incident were two German Shepherd-pitbull cross breeds.
Would dogs eat their beloved owners’ bodies?
Unsurprisingly this is a topic that has been written about a lot online, and the conclusive answer to that question is a resounding YES.
Buzzfeed interviewed a forensic anthropologist at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, whose pet research topic is animal scavengers. They asked Dr Carolyn Rando if dogs would eat their dead owners given a chance.
And this was her disturbing answer: “Yes, your pets will eat you when you die, and perhaps a bit sooner than is comfortable. They tend to go for the neck, face, and any exposed areas first, and then, if not discovered in time, they may proceed to eat the rest of you.”
It seems that this desire to feed on their owners is not nasty at all but instinctive – and it may stem from their love for their owner. Dr Rando added: “When you die, the animal often becomes distressed and may attempt to ‘wake you up’; they will lick and nip at the face. Once they’ve licked enough, they may draw blood; this could trigger an instinctive behaviour, resulting in more wounding and eventually consumption of human tissue.”
She cited a case from 2007 in which two dogs dined out on the body of their middle-aged female owner and the only things left of her were small bone fragments, a piece of her skull, and some hair. But the woman had been dead for a month before she was found.
Before cat owners become all pious and diss the dogs, there are also cases on record where felines have fed on their owners. But it’s the “motivation” that the scientists haven’t worked out yet when it comes to cats.
