Military dogs have killed a handler who was tasked with exercising and feeding them.
The spokesman for the Austrian defence ministry, Michael Bauer, made this known on Thursday.
The ministry said that the previous night, an officer at the Flugfeld barracks south of Vienna noticed that two Belgian Shepherds were running free on the premises.
When a dog handler was called to bring the animals back to their kennel, he found a lifeless colleague who had apparently been mauled to death by the two dogs, the ministry added.
Bauer said that the 31-year-old Staff Sergeant, who was attacked, was on duty on Wednesday evening and had taken the two animals out of their enclosure to give them exercise.
The Belgian Shepherds had been trained “to enter buildings with potential enemies inside, and to stop the enemies,” he said.
According to the spokesman, the staff sergeant had worked as a dog handler for two years and was known to be very dedicated to his job.
An investigation into the incident has been launched.
