Compiled below are summaries of just a handful of the news articles written about children drowning or nearly drowning after getting outside through a doggie door. This is not an isolated incident, but rather a growing problem costing too many precious lives.
A one-year-old Deltona boy is the latest victim of an underreported danger that has claimed more than one hundred young lives to date. With his parents and grandparents nearby, Chase Wilson crawled out of his home through an 8 x 12 inch pet door and fell into the family's swimming pool. He was found minutes later by his mother, but it was already too late to save him.
A Deltona toddler who drowned in a family pool got out of the house through a doggy door, sheriff's investigators said.
More than a hundred children have died or been seriously injured in the last decade after squeezing through tiny pet doors and getting into swimming pools or other dangerous places, new research has found.
Matthew Ranfone was only two years old when he slipped out of his Orlando home, into an enclosed patio area and through a pool fence into the backyard pool. His parents found him minutes later floating face down. Matthew Ranfone died 13 days later from the injuries sustained in the near drowning. The Ranfone’s story is not unique. It is estimated that in the last decade more than 100 children nationwide have drowned, nearly drowned or been injured, after exiting the home through a pet door. Yet few parents know about this hidden hazard. Today Mathew’s mother, Carol Ranfone, is launching a website, PetAccessDangers.org, to raise awareness of this danger and advocate for change in the industry.
It can happen in a split second. Your child slips out of sight before slipping into danger.
A little boy nearly drowned in a swimming pool while at his aunt’s house near Fort Myers, Florida. Family members say all of the doors in the house were locked but the boy may have gotten out through the doggy door in the back of the house. Family members found him face down in the pool, pulled him out and started CPR. He spent one night in the intensive care unit at Health Park Hospital and was released the next day in good condition.
State police are calling the drowning of a toddler in a Scott Depot backyard pool a "terrible accident."
A 9-month-old baby who was found Saturday evening in a southwest Bakersfield swimming pool died Sunday night at a Madera hospital.
Wichita Falls police have identified the 1-year-old girl who drowned Saturday. Police said it appeared the baby crawled through a pet door to get to the swimming pool.
An 11-month-old Katy girl has died, a week after crawling through a pet door and falling into a swimming pool at her family's home, authorities said.
Clark County Fire Department rescue unit responded to a home inside the city at 4:45PM Thursday afternoon after a toddler fell into a backyard swimming pool on the southwest side of the city.
Investigators believe that the little boy in Fort Bragg, N.C. wandered away from family members at around 1:00 p.m. and was able to crawl through a pet door that leads into the pool area.
A 4-year-old boy drowned Sunday after crawling through a doggie door and making his way to a swimming pool, Hillsborough County Sherff's deputies say.
An 18-month old boy drowned Thursday in a day care's backyard swimming pool.
A 14-month-old girl who was found floating face down in her family's pool Saturday evening apparently gained access to the water by crawling through a "doggie door" at the family's house.
A Fort Bend County toddler who drowned in his family's pool apparently slipped out of the house through a pet door, authorities said Tuesday.
An 18-month-old girl fell into a swimming pool Tuesday after getting out of her home through a doggie door.
I'm writing to relate our tragic story in the hope that other lives may be saved. Last May, our beautiful 2-year-old nephew drowned in the backyard pool.
I am writing to call your attention to a little-known danger to some children. On May 18, 1998, my 2 1/2 -year-old nephew, he crawled through the family pet's door, jumped into the swimming pool and drowned.
While his family slept Thursday, an 18-month-old Ruskin boy crawled through the doggie door of his home and into a backyard swimming pool, Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said.