Update: Dogs To Be Euthanized, Man Recovering

A vicious dog attack left a man in the hospital with serious injuries.

Fifty-four-year-old Dan Brown went for a walk around 1 a.m. Wednesday in his Santa Teresa Country Club neighborhood in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

Thursday morning, officials with the Mesilla Valley Animal Shelter announced the two dogs will be euthanized in less than two weeks.

ABC-7 spoke with Brown’s wife Lisa who said her husband was attacked for about an hour and a half in a desert area.

In her hands, she had her husband’s jeans and sweater, both bloodied and torn into shreds.

The dogs bit off pieces of his skin all over his arms, legs and back.

Brown’s wife said he has a significant number of stitches and staples all over his body.

“He thought he was going to die out there”, said Lisa Brown.

Dave Arroyo, a friend and co-worker of Brown, described the attack.

“He wrestled them for about an hour and then the only thing he could do, he said, was play dead. They would sit there and lick his wounds, and as soon as he would move a little bit they’d start again,” said Arroyo.

It was a passerby with a flashlight and walking stick who found Brown and helped him home– about a quarter mile away.

Traps were set up and officers used their trucks to surround the dogs.

At one point the dogs barked and charged at authorities.

Mesilla Valley Animal Shelter director, Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock, said the dogs have not shown any signs of aggression.

“They are showing they are extremely timid,” said Dr. Vesco-Mock.

The only way their lives could be spared is if the owners come forward or a rescue shelter takes them in.

“They need behavior training, they need to be worked with. We take in way too many animals to spend that kind of time,” said Dr. Vesco-Mock.

She said the shelter has seen a spike in dog attacks in Dona Ana County.

“In the last ten days, we have had 14 bite dogs come in,” she said.

Resources are minimal and the cages at the shelter are filling up all too quickly.

At-risk canines are putting the healthy dogs in danger.

“We had to euthanize adoptable dogs last night (Wednesday) when all of these dogs came in,” said Dr. Vesco-Mock.

In the next several days, the dogs believed responsible for the attack will meet their fate.

“Unfortunately, when their ten days are up they will be euthanized,”said Dr. Vesco-Mock.

Meanwhile, Dan Brown is still recovering from his injuries.