Ember Renee Southard died in the worst way imaginable. She was only 6 months old and didn’t even get to learn how to speak or walk before a tragedy struck and cut her life short.
Baby Ember was attacked by a family member’s dog.
The dog owner was supposed to look after her while her mother was taking her grandmother’s to a doctor’s appointment.
The tragic incident occurred in Shelby County, on March 14, at around 10 a.m.
Ember’s mom, Anna, was planning to take her daughter with, but the family member told her they would take care of the little girl.
However, around less than 20 minutes later, Anna, who hadn’t even checked in at the doctor’s office, received a frantic call.
When she returned to the family member’s home, just after the ambulance had arrived, Anna noticed her daughter who appeared lifeless.
She fell to her knees in the driveway and learned her baby was attacked by the family member’s dog, an 11-year-old American Bully, a dog that has been around children plenty of times before and never hurt anyone until then.
Ember was rushed to the hospital, and Anna prayed she survives, although all her hopes were shattered the moment she saw her daughter’s blue, unmoving body.
The little girl was taken to the operating room, and despite doctors’ attempt to save her, Ember passed away at 1:10.
At the time being, no arrests have been made.
The police revealed that at the time of the attack, there were two dogs in the home of the family member where Ember was staying. Both animals have been taken into a 10-day animal quarantine by animal control.
Speaking to WLFA, Anna revealed that the family member had fallen asleep with Ember in her embrace, but then the girl slipped off and the dog mauled her.
At the time Ember was taken to the hospital, the family member, who suffers from epilepsy, had a seizure.
My daughter was so sweet,” Anna recalled. “She had the sweetest smile, the cutest squeal. Ember was such a joy. Such a good baby. She always had a little smile and big beautiful eyes. She hated to be cold or wet. I can’t even describe the feeling of cleaning the blood off my daughter, of wrapping her body in warm blankets so that she wouldn’t be cold. Only me and my grandparents saw her first after she passed. I didn’t allow anyone else to see her until she was as clean and warm as she could be.”
“Ember’s nickname was Noodle. Because as a newborn, she had little noodly toes, and the name just stuck. A wittle noodle. A perfect noodle. She was loved by so many people. Ember was an expert at smiling at you before spitting up on you. She had the sweetest voice. She had just learned how to roll over. There wasn’t a soul that met her that didn’t absolutely love her. She had wild blonde/red hair and big bright eyes. There was never a more perfect baby than my noodle.”
The devastated mom said she won’t be pressing charges.
However, she won’t ever forgive the family member for falling asleep while they needed to take care of her daughter.
“My daughter is gone forever because they couldn’t follow a simple [expletive] rule. I follow safe sleep rules to the letter, and I never allow my children around dogs like that. Always supervised with me holding them. I don’t believe charges should be continued, and I will not be actively pressing them. I think the punishment of knowing what their neglect did to my daughter will haunt them for the rest of their life, as it should. It was an accident. An avoidable accident, is still an accident.”
Anna urges parents not to take a risk and keep dogs away from infants so that a tragedy like this won’t happen to any other child ever again.
We are so very sorry for this loss.
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Love and Peace