Dogs Maul CA Man To Death, Bite Second Person Who Tried To Help

SELMA, CA — Several dogs escaped a home in Selma, mauled a man to death and wounded a second person who tried to help him, police said.

A 59-year-old Selma man was walking through the neighborhood near Balboa and Goldridge streets when the dogs attacked, police said in a news release. Selma is about 15 miles southeast of Fresno.

The dogs, which escaped from a nearby home, then bit a second person who came to the man's aide. Police arrived to the person trying to separate the dogs from the man.

Officers gave first aid to the man until medics arrived. He was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries, police said. The second person suffered a minor bite wound.

Police and an animal control officer captured and quarantined the dogs. The number of dogs and their breeds weren't immediately released. A voice mail message left with the police department wasn't immediately returned.

The owner of the dogs is cooperating with investigators, police said.

Graphic video published on Facebook showed first responders treating at least one victim in an ambulance. An animal control officer drags two dogs — both subdued and appearing to be unconscious — to a vehicle, then picks them up and loads them into the truck.

Later in the video, a third dog barks at two officers from a doorway. When a fourth dog runs out, several officers fire what appears to be a stun gun at one of the dogs as a woman screams in the background. The animal control officer subdues the third dog and walks it away from the home, then does the same to the fourth dog.

A 2019 article published by the National Library of Medicine called dog bites a "significant public health issue."

There are an average of about 337,000 emergency department visits each year for dog bites, the authors said. About half of dog bites are to the upper extremities, and about a fourth are to the head or neck area. Younger patients had more bites involving the head and neck, and older patients had more upper extremity bites.

About 80 percent of dog bites happen at home, the researchers said.