Pack Of Unleashed Cane Corso Mastiff Dogs Attack Residents In Tarzana Neighborhood

TARZANA (CBSLA) - Residents in a Tarzana neighborhood say that for years they've been terrorized by a group of large and aggressive dogs.

Cellphone video captured a moment that a group of cane corso dogs, a large mastiff breed, approached a woman in Tarzana on Saturday night.

Two neighbors rushed to her aid, but not before she was bitten twice, with one of the injuries leaving swollen and bruising marks on her upper thigh.

"My biggest fear in that moment, aside from trying not to run, was I hope this dog doesn't jump on my back. I hope it doesn't jump on my back because it could easily take me out," Lenay Golden, the victim, said.

Neighbors said Saturday's attack was not an isolated incident.

"It's been five, over five years that these dogs have tormented the neighborhood," said a woman who did not want to be identified on camera, but shared the cellphone video she captured of the most recent attack.

She said she got in her car and was driving through the neighborhood after she'd heard the dogs, five of them, were on the loose.

"The whole neighborhood has been held hostage by these dogs," she said, adding that the street has a text thread to warn each other when the dogs have gotten loose.

Neighbors report that the dogs get out unleashed at least twice a month.

Savana Dulberg, who was dog-sitting nearby, also found herself in danger Saturday by the same unleashed canines and captured video of the event.

"I felt helpless," Dulberg said. "I can't control what's going on. There's five dogs surrounding me. Thankfully, I was picked up by a neighbor, a good neighbor of Tarzana. She was able to get me home safely. If it wasn't for her, I don't know what would have happened."

Another long time resident said he knows these dogs all too well. He and his dog, a boxer breed, were attacked by the dogs in 2015.

"These two dogs came onto us and attacked us and dragged us into the intersection," he said, adding that the animal control sergeant that came said the situation would be handled, but, ultimately, nothing changed.

The owner of the cane corso mastiffs did not want to speak on camera. In a text message, he said he intends to comply with the law if anyone was bitten and also said his dogs let people pet them and play with other dogs in the neighborhood.

More than six years after the first recorded complaint, LA Animal Services came to the neighborhood Tuesday and spoke at length to the dogs' owner.

Animal Services said that they couldn't comment on an open investigation, but did say that the dogs would be quarantined, though it's unclear what will happen beyond that.