Woman gets mauled to death by two pit bull terriers while trying to feed the aggressive pets in quarantine
A woman was mauled to death by her two pit bull terriers while she was with them at an Irving animal hospital on Saturday morning, according to the Irving Police Department.
The police revealed in a news release, that the brutal attack took place at around 11.45 am on Saturday morning. The 33-year-old victim Johana Villafane, who hails from Irving was at the O’Connor Animal Hospital and was attempting to feed the dogs outside in an exercise area when her two pit bull terriers — a male and a female — decided to attack her, the police added. The pit bulls were in quarantine at the shelter so they could be tested for rabies as they had bitten someone else earlier in the week.
Villafane was feeding the dogs while walking them in an exercise area when they attacked her. The staff at the animal shelter found her lying on the ground with severe injuries and called the police and paramedics. However, the dogs would not let anyone come near her. The police revealed that they were forced to fatally shoot the two dogs because of their "continued aggression" which was blocking Villafane from getting the medical attention that she needed.
She was then rushed to the Parkland Hospital where she was pronounced dead as a result of her injuries. Irving Police officer David Dickinson told WFAA, "They were unable to retrieve her to give her any medical attention because of the animals."
He added, "I don’t believe that [the officer who shot the dogs] had a choice. His job is to intervene to safeguard human life, and that’s what he attempted to do."
Villafane's neighbor Rick Warner said, "It’s just unbelievable. 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."
Warner revealed that he and some other neighbors recalled seeing an Animal Services vehicle at Villafane's house very recently and that Villafane and her family were new to the block.
"[The vehicle was] marked 'Animal Services', lights were flashing the entire time it was down there. We didn’t know why, we didn’t ask why, we didn’t go down to find out why," Warner added, while another neighbor Iris Powel shared that the attack was "an awful thing". "I hate to say it — it’s an awful thing to happen to anybody — but I don’t automatically say, 'Yeah, it’s a pit bull, it’s to be expected'. I don’t say that at all," Powel said.