A 10-year-old girl was taken to hospital in Oklahoma this week after being attacked and bitten by a pack of her neighbor's dogs.
The child needed stitches after sustaining wounds to her head, back, arms and legs and was treated for multiple body punctures after the incident, which took place on the 700 block of SE 41st Street in Oklahoma City on Monday, as KFOR reported.
According to the victim, the pack of seven dogs launched into an attack after escaping from her unnamed neighbor's yard and knocking over some bins.
The child said the canines were barking while she was picking up some of the garbage that had spilled out, before one bit her and the rest of the dogs joined in.
"One of them bit me and they all started biting me. They were biting at my face, my head," she told KFOR, adding she had screamed for help from anyone closeby.
The pleas for aid were heard by a local tree trimmer called David Martin who rushed to the scene and started kicking the dogs off the 10-year-old girl. "Looked like they was playing at first then all of a sudden we saw one tugging on her leg and I saw blood. It was crazy, hardest thing I've ever seen, I never want to see it again," he said.
According to KFOR, the pack of seven dogs were handed over to local animal welfare authorities after the attack, but the breeds involved were not identified.
"There is such a thing as pack mentality, and things that happen where dog energy level rises...it can affect how other dogs behave. You always need to be cautious," said Jon Gary, Oklahoma Animal Welfare superintendent, before noting it was not yet known if the owners of the dogs, who were not named, would be facing a criminal case.
It's far from the only recent dog attack in the U.S. state, according to a list of canine encounters being maintained online by Oklahoma resident Butch Bridges.
Some of the most recent encounters include a Sapulpa police officer who was attacked by a dog while serving a warrant on December 22 and a 9-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl who were attacked by a German Shepard in a park in Enid on December 6.
In October, a 26-year-old man identified as Curtis Wickham died after being mauled by a homeowner's three pit bulls in west Tulsa, Oklahoma. Outside of the state, the death of a Florida man in November was linked by police to a roaming pack of dogs.
According to DogsBite, a national victims' group that is dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks, there were at least 48 fatal dog attacks recorded in 2019, which it claimed was the highest amount ever recorded in a single year across the U.S.
It said: "During the 15-year period of 2005 to 2019, canines killed 521 Americans. Two dog breeds, pit bulls (346) and rottweilers (51), contributed to 76 percent (397) of these deaths. 35 different dog breeds were involved in the remaining fatal dog maulings."
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