Boy, 5, killed in dog attack on Alberta First Nation

A five-year-old boy is dead after a dog attack on a First Nation in northern Alberta.

He is believed to have been attacked by three dogs Sunday afternoon at a home on Whitefish First Nation, nearly 400 kilometres north of Edmonton.

High Prairie RCMP were called at 5:35 p.m. that day.

"Unfortunately, there was nothing EMS or officers on scene could do," media relations officer Cpl. Troy Savinkoff told CTV News Edmonton in an interview on Friday.

Mounties described his injuries as "consistent with a dog attack." That will be confirmed by the chief medical examiner's office.

The bodies of three dogs will undergo testing.

"The homeowners located two of the dogs and killed two of them, and then officers encountered a third, who we believe was also involved in this dog attack. And we killed that dog, as well," Savinkoff said.

"Typically, we would look at rabies and that sort of type of testing. Additionally, forensic testing just to confirm their relation to this specific incident," he explained.

"There would be several tactics that they could use including DNA and so forth with those dogs to confirm that they had that kind of contact with this child."

According to RCMP, the boy was part of Alberta's child-care system and had been staying with family at the time of the attack.

Alberta's children's services ministry confirmed the boy was receiving intervention services and as such, the circumstances of his death will be investigated and publicly reported.

The department did not specify what kind of services the government had been providing.

"There is no greater tragedy than the death of a child, and our hearts go out to all the loved ones grieving the loss of any child," senior press secretary Chinenye Anokwuru told CTV News Edmonton.

"These investigations are really horrible for investigators and the public and our hearts definitely go out to all the family and the community as well in that area," Savinkoff added.

No charges have been laid. Mounties are investigating.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenney