Virginia family's wolf hybrid kills 8-day-old baby lying in bassinet

JONESVILLE, Va. -- A Virginia sheriff said an 8-day-old baby has died after being mauled by the family's wolf-dog hybrid. Lee County Sheriff Gary Parsons told CBS affiliate WJHL-TV that deputies were told a three-year-old wolf hybrid attacked and mauled the girl while she lay in a bassinet.

The sheriff said the infant's upper body and head were primarily injured.

The dog was later euthanized, Parsons said.

He said his department was responding to a call about the mauling Wednesday morning, but the baby was already on the way to a hospital when deputies arrived. She died that afternoon. The sheriff said two other children were in the home at the time of the attack.

"According to the statements was in a bassinet, there was blood in the bassinet where the dog had attacked the child...it was very serious injuries to the upper body, and the head, the child had been seriously mauled by the animal," Parsons said. 

Identities were not immediately released.

Parsons told the station that there is an ongoing investigation with the Lee County Department of Social Services. The sheriff said he's checking with the commonwealth's attorney to see if any charges can be filed.

"I'm concerned about whether the child was protected...so the tough part for me is who is in the right and who is in the wrong, and you hate to charge parents that are grieving over a child, but at the same time you have to consider the rights of the child," Parsons said.