Police unit takes in killer Rottweilers

TODDLER'S DEATH

Police unit takes in killer Rottweilers

PRASIT TANGPRASERT

NAKHON RATCHASIMA : The two Rottweilers which savaged and killed a toddler on Thursday have now been given to a special police task force unit in the province. Supachai Phanviset yesterday took the dogs to the special task force unit to be trained as police dogs to track down runaway criminals.

Mr Supachai is the younger brother of Jintana Plu, the dead girl's mother.

The dogs were fed and muzzled before being transported on a pick-up truck.

They were given away after they attacked and killed Romklao Plu, or Nong Dina, a 20-month-old girl in the early hours of Thursday. The dogs were raised as pets.

Kraidej Visetnitiphan, deputy chief of a special task force unit, received the dogs on behalf of unit chief Pol Col Pananchai Chuenjaitham.

Pol Lt-Col Kraidej said the dogs will undergo health check-ups and intelligence tests will be carried out on them to determine whether they were suitable to be trained as tracking dogs.

The process is expected to take one to two months.

Earlier, the army's military dog training centre in Pak Chong district rejected the dogs offered by the family. The centre said they did not have the qualities of military dogs.

Nong Dina's father, a Dutchman, is expected to return to Thailand today to attend the funeral rites of his daughter at Wat Sutthajinda Woraviharn in Muang district.

He had been in the Netherlands on business. The cremation will take place at the temple on Monday.

Prapas Pinyocheep, head of the quarantine unit at Suvarnabhumi airport, said few Rottweilers are brought in from abroad now.

There is little demand for foreign Rottweilers to be used as breeding stock as local breeders can now breed the dogs themselves.

Mr Prapas said the Livestock Department banned imports of Rottweilers about 10 years ago.

Regulations were later relaxed to permit imports of the dogs at the urging of Rottweiler breeders.

It is now up to policy-makers to decide whether to reintroduce the ban on importing Rottweilers in light of the Nong Dina tragedy.