Family Dogs Start Attacking Baby, So Mom Leaps Into Action with a Knife: 'He Had Her By The Leg'

By Amanda Thomason and A.F. Branco April 26, 2022 at 4:58pm

A family in Pico Rivera, California, was involved in a horrible attack from their own dogs on Sunday night.

It was around 10:30 p.m. when 1-year-old Ruby Cervantes, who was in the kitchen, began to cry, according to KABC-TV. Her cry triggered a response from the two family dogs.

The grandmother, Margaret Morales, owns the two dogs that she described as “blue-nose pitbulls.” The dogs, littermates, had lived with the family for over three years, and while they were normally outside dogs, they were inside because they’d just been bathed, according to KNBC.

One-year-old Ruby is in the hospital this morning, after being attacked by her family’s pit bulls. Her mom stabbed the dogs to save her. @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/4FiyzPanUW

— Tina Patel (@tina_patel) April 25, 2022

According to the family, the dogs had never shown any signs of aggression before, but on that night, they ran in and started attacking Ruby.

“I thought my daughter was going to die,” mom Jamie Morales told KNBC.

Soon the entire family was involved, trying to pry the dogs off the baby, but they wouldn’t stop attacking and started biting the other family members as well.

“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 said, according to KABC-TV.

“Finally my daughter got up … and that’s when I (saw) my granddaughter. That’s when I seen the dog was latched on her … left leg. That’s when I had to actually get my hand into his jaw and like open them up, and that’s when he released her.”

When it became clear the dogs were not going to stop, Jamie grabbed a knife and began stabbing the two dogs. One of the dogs died as a result.

“I had to stab the dog … I had to,” Jamie told KTLA. “It was either him or my daughter, and I chose my daughter.”

“I did whatever I had to do to protect my daughter because he wouldn’t let go of my daughter, so I had to,” she continued. “I feel really bad, but I had to.”

Police arrived on the scene. The remaining pit bull was taken by animal control and is scheduled to be euthanized.

Jamie ended up with face wounds after one of the dogs turned on her and bit her face. Margaret required stitches on her hand, and an aunt who was helping was also injured and required medical care.

Little Ruby had surgery Monday morning at the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, and she needed stitches for multiple bite wounds to her face and body. Her hip was also fractured.

“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.”

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