Two pit bulls escaped from a fenced yard and attacked a woman on Nov. 26 on the near East Side.
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In latest San Antonio dog mauling, pit bulls tear off woman's ear
Published: Tue, 12/05/23
In latest San Antonio dog mauling, pit bulls tear off woman's ear
Effie Washington was walking on the near East Side on Nov. 26 when two pit bulls escaped from a fenced yard.
Two pit bulls escaped from a fenced yard and attacked a woman on Nov. 26 on the near East Side.
Rawphotopro/Getty Images/iStockphoto
San Antonio Express-News
By Peggy O’Hare, Staff writer
In San Antonio's latest dog mauling, three pit bulls escaped their fenced yard on the near East Side and attacked a pedestrian, tearing off one of her ears and biting her face, head and arm.T
he victim, Effie Washington, was mauled just before 2 p.m. on Nov. 26 in the 1300 block of Norfleet Street, according to a San Antonio Police Department report.
The dogs' two owners, whose names were withheld by police, witnessed the attack and told officers they were "willing to take full responsibility," the SAPD report said.
San Antonio Animal Care Services took custody of the three pit bulls. All of the dogs were females and were identified as Callie and Zena, both 2 years old, and Mamas, a 5-year-old.
The dogs' owners told police they know Washington because she always walks up and down their street. One of the owners tried to pull the canines off Washington during the mauling, the report said.
Max De Los Santos, 77, had to have both legs amputated above the knee after dogs roaming lose in his West Side neighborhood attacked him in his own yard in August. Above, physical therapists tend to him at Kindred Hospital. It was one in a string of grisly dog attacks in San Antonio this year.
William Luther/San Antonio Express-News
Attempts to reach Washington for comment were unsuccessful.
'Serious bodily injury'
On the afternoon of the attack, the owners let the three dogs into their fenced back yard so the animals could relieve themselves.
The dogs broke through a gate and lunged at Washington as she walked by, the SAPD report said.
Police arrived to find that Washington's ear had been torn off and saw that her face was bleeding, according to the report. She also suffered bites to the back of her head and her arm.
Paramedics gave Washington "immediate care" and took her to San Antonio Military Medical Center for treatment.
Police could not interview Washington immediately because of the "serious bodily injury" she had suffered, the report said.
Before the attack, the dogs' owners had been having difficulty securing their gate but had been trying to correct the problem, the police report stated.
An SAPD homicide detective went to the site of the attack to gather witness statements.
Washington is no longer a patient at the military medical center, a spokesman said. Further details on her condition were not available.
A string of dog attacks this year, two of them fatal, has called attention to San Antonio's problem with dangerous canines.
Abilene Schnieder, shown above after a court hearing, and her husband, Christian Alexander Moreno, face felony charges in the death of Ramon Najera Jr., 81, an Air Force veteran. Two dogs owned by the couple escaped their yard on the West Side and fatally mauled Najera on Feb. 24. It was one of two deadly dog attacks in San Antonio this year.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
Alarming rise in severe bites
About 3,000 dog bites are reported to Animal Care Services every year. Severe bites — defined by city ordinance as those causing death, broken bones or disfigurement — rose from 110 in the 2018 fiscal year to 188 in 2022, a 70% jump. In the 2023 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, ACS recorded nearly 300 severe bites.
In one of this year's fatal attacks, Paul Anthony Striegl Jr., 47, was mauled in September by a dog that escaped from his next-door neighbor's yard in a trailer park on the Northeast Side. Striegl was rushed to Brooke Army Medical Center, where he died weeks later of complications from the attack.
In the other deadly mauling, Air Force veteran Ramon Najera Jr., 81, was killed by pit bulls on the West Side on Feb. 24.
Najera and his wife, who lived in Leon Valley, had stopped to visit a friend in the 2800 block of Depla. Three dogs escaped from the yard next door, and two of them attacked the couple. Najera's wife, Juanita, now 75, was wounded but survived.
The animals' owners were charged with dangerous dog attack causing death and with recklessly causing injury to an elderly person, both felonies.