Boy dies in dog attack

Photo: Contributed

A Saskatchewan family says it has "lost the light" of their lives after a little boy was killed in a dog attack.

The six-year-old boy was found dead after RCMP and emergency medical personnel responded to a call Wednesday evening in Riceton, about 50 kilometres southeast of Regina.

Two large-breed dogs, reported to police to be Alaskan malamutes, were seized by the Regina Humane Society.

"The dogs were known to the deceased and his family," RCMP Staff Sgt. Rob Embree said Thursday in Regina.

"The circumstances of the incident are currently being investigated by Milestone RCMP. This includes investigation into what may have prompted the attack. It is unclear whether one or both dogs were involved."

Police wouldn't say who owned the dogs or release the name of the child but the boy has been identified on social media as Cameron Mushanski.

Bill Thorn, with the Regina Humane Society, said two of the society's officers took custody of the dogs immediately after the boy's death.

"Basically, ownership was transferred to us and, at the order of the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region, the animals were euthanized," Thorn said Thursday.

"They will be tested for rabies, which is fairly standard procedure in something like this, just to see if that or any other medical factor might have been a factor in what happened."