8-year-old girl ‘bravely’ fights of stray dogs in Socorro, police say

SOCORRO, Texas (KVIA) -- An 8-year-old girl "bravely" fought off a pack of stray mixed-breed dogs today, Socorro Police officials say.

The girl was running along Flor Freesia Drive when she was attacked, police officials say. She was bitten once, then fought of the 11 dogs until her father heard her cries for help and was able to intervene. Her family rushed her to the hospital for medical treatment.

The Socorro Police Department's Animal Welfare Unit linked the 11 dogs to a single property and captured most of them soon after. Two dogs remain at large and police urge residents to use caution.

A person living nearby had been feeding and providing water to the strays, police say. The dogs will be euthanized.

The dogs' caretaker was cited for several violations, including Standards for Animal Care, Animal Not Confined, Animal Not Vaccinated, Attack by a Dangerous Dog, and Aggressive/Dangerous Animal.

Anyone who sees a stray or aggressive dog should report it to police, officials say.

ABC-7 spoke to the family of the girl who was attacked. They say Adaiah Zamora was running to the bus for school when the dogs came and chased her.

"There's no words to explain the scariness of getting, you know, that notice of your kid getting attacked," said Mary, Adaiah's mother. "It's scary to see them. The've, several times, attacked cars. But they had never done this before."

The Zamora family told ABC-7 that they see these dogs running around every day. Neighbors had stopped walking their dogs in the area because of them. They say that animal control has tried to fix the problem before, but hopefully now they can alert other communities of the issue.

"It's hard to just pressure them to do their job because I know they try, but there's no space for them to keep so many dogs," said Mary.