California mom STABS family dog to death after it attacks her 1-year-old daughter
A mother has recounted how it was either "the dog or my child" before she grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her pet pit bull to death after it began mauling her daughter.
Jamie Morales was quick to respond after her family dog had started to attack her one-year-old daughter at around 10.20 pm local time on Sunday, April 24, in Pico Rivera, a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California. The reported pit bull caught hold of the leg of little Ruby Cervantes before a second pit bull also joined the attack. The tot was rushed to the hospital with leg, ankle, and shoulder injuries and reportedly underwent surgery for a hip fracture.
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Morales initially tried to pull the hounds off the child, but when her efforts were unsuccessful she went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. "I stabbed him to get him off of my daughter. It was either him or my daughter and I chose my daughter. I did what I had to do because he wouldn’t let go," Morales, who was bit in the face and arm while trying to protect her daughter, told Fox LA. "I feel really bad but I had to. I’m pretty sure anyone would have done it," she added.
Ruby's grandmother Margaret Morales and an aunt were also injured in the attack. "I walked into the kitchen and that's when I (saw)...my two daughters and my son on the floor trying to get the dogs off," Margaret told ABC 7. "Finally, my daughter got up...and that's when I (saw) my granddaughter." The grandmother said they had owned the dogs since they were puppies and that they came from the same litter. "I (saw) the dog was latched on her left leg. That's when I had to actually get my hand into his jaws and open them up and that's when he released her," she added.
A horrific attack by two pit bulls that left four people hospitalized. They attacked one year old Ruby Ann Cervantes. The girl’s mother stabbed the dogs to stop the attack. The dogs were 3 1/2 years old and the family says they’ve had them since they were puppies. pic.twitter.com/zjNNuTktIR
— Carlos Granda (@abc7carlos) April 25, 2022
"He had her by the leg and I had to get his teeth off of her," Margaret later told KTLA, adding, "He bit my hand and my hand's pretty severely cut open." Jamie said that she "thought my daughter was going to die" but Margaret noted that "she's strong." According to NBC Montana, one of the dogs that survived will be taken to animal control and euthanized. Both the dogs were blue nose pit bulls who had been in the home for about four months and had never displayed any aggressive behavior, according to family members. They said the dogs were normally kept in the backyard of the home but were inside at the time of the attack. "The dogs [were] good dogs. We just had them bathed yesterday. I was asleep and my daughter heard the commotion," Margaret Morales told Fox LA.
The dogs were removed from the home by officers from the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority. One of the pit bulls was seen carried out of the residence in a plastic bag after it was stabbed multiple times.
"Like many others this morning, I was horrified and dismayed at the news of the unprovoked attack on a one-year child by a family's pit bulls," Pico Rivera Mayor Monica Sanchez said in a statement. "I'd like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and best wishes for a swift recovery for the child and injured members of the family." More than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States, and more than half of the victims are children, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control.