DUNCAN, South Carolina—Authorities say a 76-year-old Virginia woman was attacked and wounded by a pack of dogs while attending a funeral in South Carolina, and the dogs’ owner has since been charged.
News outlets report the woman was attacked Monday afternoon, March 25, by five dogs that Spartanburg Environmental Enforcement officials say escaped from owner Daisy Ann Anderson, of Duncan.
Officials say a 76-year-old woman was attending a funeral when she was attacked by the 5 dogs on Gap Creek Road in Spartanburg Co.
由 WSPA 7News 发布于 2019年3月26日周二
Arrest warrants accuse Anderson of allowing her dogs to escape despite knowing they had violent tendencies.
The pack of dogs bit the Virginia woman on both sides of her hips, but the most injuries were to her left leg below her knee.
“I knew right away they were not friendly dogs, they were like a wolf-pack,” she said.
The dogs ran away after two of her nephews ran to her rescue, WBTV News reported.
5 dogs attack woman attending funeral; owner arrested, officers say https://t.co/ONXH8V7FdQ
— WBTV News (@WBTV_News) March 27, 2019
The dogs were seized Tuesday and put under rabies quarantine at a humane society.
SEE Director Jamie Nelson says 12 other dogs were found at the home of Anderson, who was arrested on an unrelated shoplifting charge.
Nelson says Anderson faces charges related to owning an animal that attacks a human. It’s unclear if she has a lawyer.
Latest “Dog Bite” Incidents
DogsBite.org says that “each day, about 1,000 U.S. citizens require emergency care treatment for serious dog bite injuries. Annually, about 9,500 citizens are hospitalized due to dog bite injuries.”
Johana Villafane, 33, was attacked while attending to her two dogs in an outside exercise area at the O’Connor Animal Hospital in Irving on the morning of Saturday, March 23, police told WFAA.
Johana Villafane: Irving, Texas woman mauled to death by her two pit bull dogs at an animal shelter ( O’Connor Animal Hospital) after the dogs earlier in the week biting another person. https://t.co/GDgHaxTqUo
— Scallywagandvagabond (@ScallywagNYC) March 24, 2019
“The dogs were involved in an incident earlier in the month in which they bit someone,” said Irving PD Officer David Dickinson, as reported by Fox4. “They were here at the animal hospital being quarantined per regulations.”
Deputies were called to the veterinary facility to assist paramedics responding to “reports of a woman in need of medical attention,” Irving Police said in a news release on Facebook.
2019 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bulls Attack, Kill Owner While She Visited Her Dogs in Bite Quarantine Facility #Irving #Texas https://t.co/pZvWhy6HxS pic.twitter.com/Fd3Kcvjfzs
— DogsBite.org (@dogsbite) March 24, 2019
O’Connor staff had called 911 saying a dog owner had been mauled and appeared to be seriously injured. Both paramedics and staff tried to rescue the woman but were prevented from reaching the victim because of the aggressive behavior of the pit bull terriers.
“They were unable to retrieve her to give her any medical attention because of the animals,” Irving Police officer David Dickinson told WFAA.
The aggressive dogs also kept the responding officers at bay until one of the deputies shot them both dead.
“Due to the dogs continued aggression, an officer discharged his duty weapon, striking and killing both dogs,” police said in the statement.
Woman dies after pit bulls maul her at Irving clinic and are shot by police https://t.co/BCeV8VVmTt
— DogsBite.org (@dogsbite) March 23, 2019
“I don’t believe that [the officer who shot the dogs] had a choice,” Dickinson told WFAA. “His job is to intervene to safeguard human life, and that’s what he attempted to do.”
The victim was taken to Parkland Hospital with life-threatening injuries, where she later died, according to Fox4.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Villafane’s neighbor Rick Warner told WFAA. “It doesn’t matter the breed when that happens, if an animal gets that kind of reactive, they call it the ‘red zone’ and nothing is going to take it off except for extreme force.”
The Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
