Man mauled to death in Southwest Detroit
(CBS DETROIT) – A man was mauled to death by stray dogs in southwest Detroit.
Police say the dogs allegedly attacked him at a building on Fort Street between Morell and Junction streets.
People who live in the area have seen a number of stray dogs. Some of them are described as vicious and have targeted neighborhood pets.
Neighbors feared this tragedy was only a matter of time.
"They look like junkyard dogs all greasy and dirty they're scared, but when they're together, that's when they're dangerous because they run in a pack," Gordon Compton, one of those neighbors, said.
That may have been a factor in what happened Tuesday afternoon at the seemingly vacant building.
Detroit Police say two people were trying to help some stray dogs when at least two pit bulls went on the attack.
One of the individuals wasn't hurt, but the other, a 58-year-old man, died at the scene.
"God bless his family. Trying to do good and feed the dogs and get to killed by them," Compton said.
A city spokesperson told CBS News Detroit, Animal Control did take the attacking dogs into custody.
They're under quarantine for at least ten days while an investigator gathers information from a person claiming to be the dogs' owner.
Animal Control did receive a complaint last August from neighbors.
"A lady was trying to feed to them right here, and she had to dive back into the window because they went after last summer. I told her, 'don't try to feed them," Compton said.
"Me and the neighbor over there were screaming at her to 'get back in the car. Those dogs are vicious.' Right, when the dogs came barking, that's when she jumped in her back hatch, closed it and left," another neighbor said.
He hopes this deadly attack will bring to the city's attention the danger they're facing.
"I've got my nephew down the street here. He's got roosters and chickens. He had nine of them. He's only got two left because of them," that neighbor said.
Animal control wants to remind people that if see a stray dog, they should call their hotline 313-922-DOGS (6347).
