An elderly woman was mauled to death by a pit bull, a pet dog, in Lucknow's Qaiserbagh area. The incident took place on Tuesday, raising questions what contributed to the change in the dog's behaviour.

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Savita Tripathi (82), a teacher retired from Nari Shiksha Niketan, was alone in the house when the incident took place. Her son Amit, a gym trainer, had gone out for a training session.

Neighbours informed Amit after they heard Savita`s screams and found her lying in a pool of blood. She died during treatment in hospital.

Meanwhile, the local authorities have taken the dog into their custody and are studing the pet animal's behaviour.

"Our team has brought the pitbull to study his behaviour as to why the pit bull behaved like this," says Arvind Kumar Rao, Joint Director Animal Welfare, reported ANI.

The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) had ordered a probe into the incident after it found no record of pet licence. Officials said that legal action would be taken against Amit, the owner of the dog, if he fails to submit the pet license.

Amit has two dogs -- a Pitbull named Brownie and a Labrador called Daisy.

"Amit could not produce the licence and was impolite with the team. Considering the sensitivity of the situation, the team returned from his house after telling him to produce the licence on Wednesday. The LMC team again visited his house but neighbours informed us that the family had gone to immerse mortal remains in the Ganga, leaving dogs with people living on rent in the same house," Municipal commissioner Indrajit Singh said.

Joint director, animal welfare department, Lucknow Municipal Corporation, Dr Arvind Rao, said action would be taken if the owner failed to produce a pet licence for the dogs.

Meanwhile, municipal commissioner Inderjit Singh has advised people to avoid keeping hunting dog breeds like American Pitbull, Rottweiler, Siberian Husky, Doberman Pinscher and Boxer as pets because they tend to become ferocious.

"Before making a dog pet, we should consider the nature of the breed and the environment where they live. Foreign hunting breeds find it difficult to accommodate in our environment and can become violent. Hence, they should not be kept as pets," he said.

Instead, he said, friendly small breeds should be reared. In rearing large breeds, special care should be taken and only trained dogs should be kept. Their food should be arranged according to their nature and while eating food, one should avoid giving any sedative.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination report of Savita Tripathi has revealed over a dozen injury marks.

There were four major wounds on head, face, stomach and thighs. There was also a 6cm deep wound in her stomach. "Excessive loss of blood led to her death," said deputy commissioner of police, west zone, Shivasimpi Channappa.

With Inputs from IANS