Approach to fatal dog attacks: a forensic case study (2019).

A 62 years-old man died due to the fatal clinical complications occurred after a serious dog attack. Immediately after the attack, the victim pointed to two pitbull dogs as responsible for the attack. The dogs were found by the competent authorities few kilometers away from the site of the attack. Because of the lack of direct witnesses and since the dog owners refused any responsibility of the attack, a technical evaluation was necessary in order to establish the attack details and responsibility. Then, the casts of dental arches were collected with dogs under general anesthesia (with dedicated kit and alginate Hidrogum 5, Zhermack). The forensic investigation verified the perfect compatibility between the dogs’ dental arches and the wounds present on the victim body. The investigation of places, type, diffusion and size of injuries on the victim led us to classify the aggression as "predatory typology with playful onset", moreover due to their breed behavioral features, pitbull dogs are genetically predisposed to chase and predate. For all these reasons the two dogs were considered responsible for the aggression