Mark Alan Partain: GoFundMe launched for Alabama boy's family after he was killed by neighbor’s dogs

NEW HOPE, ALABAMA: A two-year-old boy in Alabama has died after he was attacked by his neighbor’s dogs. The boy, identified by his mother as Mark Alan Partain, was fatally injured last Friday, March 1.

Three canines are believed to have been involved, said the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, as per WAAY.

Two of the dogs belonged to Mark Alan’s neighbor, who told the outlet that the dogs were a husky and a German shepherd mix. All the dogs have been quarantined.

What did dog owner Ricky Clark say?

The dog owner, Ricky Clark, told the outlet that he was alerted when he heard Mark Alan’s father yelling for help. "He was banging on the door real hard and he said, 'It's my son, it's my son, I think he might be dead,'" said Clark. He immediately knew something was wrong when Clark heard his neighbor say that. 

Clark ran out to see what was going on and explained what he saw. "He was laying on the ground there in front of the dog pen, and he wasn't moving or nothing and the gate was open," Clark told the station.

Dog owner Ricky Clark claimed his dogs never hurt anyone before

Clark said that even when he found his dogs, it seemed as if the two were trying to protect the child from something else.

"There's a brown bulldog running around in the neighborhood, and it was running around in the yard," continued Clark. "When I got my dog put up, I saw her running out of the yard, and I don't know if she had anything to do with it."

Clark added that seeing that dog on the loose isn't unusual. He believes his neighbor's child may have followed that dog into his backyard. "He might've opened the gate and that other dog might've come in here with him, and then they might've all went at it and he might've been right in the middle of it," said Clark.

Ricky Clark said he wouldn't have kept the dogs if he knew they were dangerous

Clark reportedly stays awake all night and keeps repeatedly thinking about what might have happened to that child.

"I couldn't believe it because my dogs ain't never growled or barked at nobody or nothing," said Clark. "If I even had a clue that those dogs were going to hurt anybody, I wouldn't have had them."

Clark says Animal Control took his dogs and told him they would return them in 10 days.

Mark Alan Partain's mother does not blame anyone 

In a Facebook post, the boy’s mother, Kayla Hughey Partain, said she doesn't blame anyone.

“There will be a full investigation but it looks as if this was just a very tragic accident with no one to be held at fault,” she wrote in the post.

A GoFundMe started to raise money for the family has raised over $21,000.