‘A Fairly Horrific Scene’: Three Pit Bulls Attack Two Fort Bragg Women Causing Severe Injury

Pit bull [Stock Photo by Silvester Broly via Wikicommons]

One of the dogs has been euthanized, another is in quarantine, and another was evaluated for medical treatment after two of the attacking dogs ganged up on one of their own. 

Fort Bragg Police Chief Neil Cervenka provided us with an overview of the incident. He described the attack as a “fairly horrific scene” adding that “those dogs would’ve killed them if they hadn’t escaped.”

Officers arrived on the 400 block of South Harrison Street around 11:33 a.m. and found an adult woman standing in the home’s driveway with “deep lacerations to her left forearm and a dog bite wound to the face.” After immediately applying a pressure dressing to the woman’s forearm, the officer learned there was another woman at the rear of the home with the attacking dogs. 

As medics took over care of the first victim, Chief Cervenka said the first officer on scene made his way to the backyard locating a “second adult female victim sitting on top of a hot tub with a large amount of blood covering her clothing.”

The officer noted a door to the residence was open and saw that inside two pit bulls had begun attacking a third. The officer learned that there were no occupants in the home and closed the door to the residence trapping the dogs inside. 

The second victim lost “a large amount of blood from major injuries to both hands and arms” and advised the officer she also suffered leg injuries. A second ambulance was requested to the scene. Two Fort Bragg Police officers and a Community Service Officer provided care to slow the bleeding. 

Ultimately, both victims were transported to Adventist Health Mendocino Coast Hospital and the second victim’s injuries proved so severe she was flown out of the area for treatment. 

An off-duty FBPD officer assisted in detaining the dogs. A large white/black male pit bull described as the “most aggressive” was transported to Ukiah to be euthanized. A tan/white female pit bull that had joined the male in attacking the third was taken to the Ukiah Animal Shelter for quarantine. The second female pit bull that was attacked by the other two was taken to the Mendocino Coast Humane Society for evaluation by a veterinarian. 

Chief Cervenka told us that the two victims were visiting the house at the time and were reportedly familiar with the three animals. The owner had left the two women with the dogs on other occasions without incident and could not provide a reason why the dogs attacked this time. Ultimately, the owner signed surrender papers for all of the dogs.

We have reached out to Mendocino County Animal Control to get an update regarding the three dogs and will provide more information when available.

UPDATE: Fort Bragg PD Releases Video Footage of Brutal Dog Attack that Injured Two Women and One Dog