A California woman is in the hospital on life support after being attacked by three dogs, family members and friends have said.
Detectives do not believe the dogs were intentionally set on Johnson but they are still investigating, Lt. Zach Hall said Dec. 19. The owner of the animals violated a leash law, which could result in a citation, Animal Services officials said.
“I was asked to let my mother die today, by doctors and family,” Platt said on Dec. 17. “Everyone tried to convince me today to just let her die as one side of her brain swelled into the other side. But I just could not let my mother go.”
“The dogs basically ate my mom alive, ripping out a main artery in her throat, causing a severe stroke to the left side of her brain, leaving her half brain-dead,” Platt said, describing the attack.
Platt said he is not ready to let his mother die, despite what doctors and other family members have said. “I just want my mom to stay alive,” he said.
Animal Services did a sweep of the area near the woman’s house to find any stray dogs.
“This is something we have been dealing with for a long time,” Animal Services spokesman John Welsh told the Mercury News. “In light of what happened last week, we thought it was important.”
The dogs are being held at the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, where animal control staff members are seeking to euthanize the dogs. Welsh said a decision is expected within the next 10 days.
There were no witnesses in the attack and investigators are trying to figure out why it happened.
“This is another preventable attack on an innocent person and one we find very upsetting,” Riverside County Department of Animal Services Director Robert Miller also said. “It’s imperative that owners of these types of dogs do everything in their power to prevent such horrific attacks.”
‘Most Abused Dogs on Earth’
Animal rights group PETA has said that pit bulls are “the most abused dogs on Earth.”“Pit bulls are left at shelters in record numbers—and since they are difficult to adopt out, reputable shelters (that don’t slam the door in the dogs’ faces) are finding that they must euthanize more pit bulls and pit bull mixes than all other dogs combined,” the group said.
Karen Delise, research director for the National Canine Research Council and author of “The Pitbull Placebo,” has investigated hundreds of dog bite incidents.