Kerry Kennedy’s dog killed in ‘terrifying and violent’ mauling on the same day mother Ethel died
Kerry Kennedy’s family pup was mauled to death in a “terrifying and violent” attack on a beach by a neighbor’s dog in Hyannis Port, Mass. – just hours after Ethel Kennedy passed away.
The Kennedy scion relayed the tragic and brutal story of her dog Bellini’s death on X, where she paid tribute to the small fluffy pooch.
“A few hours after my Mum passed, I returned home to Hyannis Port, where Michaela and I took Bellini for a walk on the beach,” she wrote.
“Out of nowhere, a neighborhood dog charged, attacked and killed Bellini. It was terrifying and violent beyond words. The only sense I could make of it is that Mum wanted a companion for her journey, and she received the very best in Bellini.”
The silver-lining-seeking Kerry lost her mother, Ethel Kennedy, on Oct. 10 from complications due to a stroke that the 96-year-old matriarch suffered the week prior. The attack on Bellini happened that same day, according to the Kennedy family.
Kerry, 65, shared photos of Bellini in memorium – one at a fountain in Europe, another on a boat, one with Bellini sleeping in her arms, and another with the sweet angel wearing a purple bow.
The daughter of assassinated politician Robert F. Kennedy is no stranger to tragedy and made an effort to find the bright spot on the overwhelmingly dark day.
“Reflecting on the episode, I am heartbroken to have lost my beautiful companion, and I also am grateful to have a neighbor who was kind to me in the aftermath and who, instead of taking the easy stance of defensiveness, denial, and blame, took the hard decision for the greater good. I feel sad, but I also know I am blessed,” Kerry Kennedy wrote in her post to X.
Kennedy said that the neighbor who owned the killer dog was “undone” by the episode. She added that he has emailed her every day since the mauling and has also sent his “beloved” dog “away.”
Kerry empathetically noted in her post that both she and her neighbor “lost” their pets.
“He called me yesterday to say he has sent his beloved dog away, and we both cried on the phone together, having lost our pets,” she wrote.
Kerry’s little white companion Bellini was regularly featured on Instagram.
Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo – the daughter of Kerry Kennedy and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – was on the beach walking Bellini when she was mauled to death.
Kennedy-Cuomo took to Instagram last week to memorialize both her grandma and her pet.
“Wishing the wind hadn’t returned Grandma and Bellini to Heaven on 10/10, but grateful and lucky for the lives they lead [sic] and the miracle of their welcome home party strobe lights shone on their home, Hyannis Port that night,” Kennedy-Cuomo wrote on Instagram.
The “strobe lights” she was referring to was the phenomenon of aurora borealis, which lit up the Atlantic coast after a powerful solar flare earlier this month – the same day Ethel and Bellini passed away – a photo of which the political heiress included in her post.
