A young boy was mauled by the dog his family had rescued just weeks before the shocking attack.

On the evening of October 20, 7-year-old James McNeelis from Kiefer, Oklahoma, was playing in the backyard outside his family home when he suddenly stopped responding to his parents.

After the boy failed to answer the calls from his father, Michael McNeelis, the concerned family reached out to the police and began searching for the child.

Moments later, distressing screams could be heard throughout the neighborhood after Michael came across his son’s lifeless body in the backyard.

“We knew something was wrong. As a mother, you know that scream. If anybody has ever heard that scream, you know that scream. Something was catastrophically wrong,” Shannon Edinson, the family’s neighbor, said in an interview with KOTV.

Though an official investigation is still underway, the police have confirmed that an animal was likely responsible for the boy’s death and that foul play isn’t suspected.

According to the reports, it is believed that the family’s dog, a Shetland sheepdog and corgi mix, was behind the devastating attack. As the family confirmed, the dog they rescued just weeks before the incident wasn’t showing any signs of aggression.

“He was so full of life and light and he was going to change the world. And he still is. His light will change the world,” Mr. McNeelis expressed in a tribute to his young son.

“We feel alone and lost without him and we’re doing all we can but it’s just hard. Everything just hurts without my little boy here.”

Our thoughts are with James’ family during these challenging times.

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