Arizona woman mauled to death by four terrier-mix dogs as owner charged with negligent homicide

Four Staffordshire Terrier-mix dogs were put down and their owner charged with negligent homicide after a 77-year-old woman was mauled to death in front of her Arizona home.

Maria Ruiz was found in a critical condition on her front porch following an unprovoked attack by her neighbour’s dogs, according to police and local reports.

Maricopa County Animal Care and Control captured the dogs shortly after the attack, a spokeswoman told The Independent.

"Due to the severity of the situation, we received permission from the owner to euthanize the dogs, which was completed yesterday, and they were sent to the state lab for rabies testing," she said.

Fire rescue crews found Ms Ruiz with multiple wounds outside the Phoenix home near Sixth Street and Broadway Road about 7 am local time on Tuesday morning, The Arizona Republic reported. She was taken to a hospital for treatment but died of her injuries.

Investigators told the outlet that the dogs were owned by Ms Ruiz’s neighbour Alejandro Hernandez, 33, who reportedly had previous interactions with Maricopa’s animal care and control department over the dogs escaping his property.

Mr Hernandez allegedly told police that the dogs had a history of escaping and attacking his neighbours. He was arrested and charged with negligent homicide, according to the Republic. He was reportedly issued license warnings and instructed to fix a gate to secure the dogs.

Under Arizona law, dog owners can face felony charges if they knowingly own a dog that has a “history of biting or a propensity to cause injury”.

“Or to otherwise endanger the safety of human beings without provocation or that has been found to be a vicious animal by a court of competent jurisdiction and that bites, inflicts physical injury on or attacks a human being while at large,” the law states.

A neighbour told local Phoenix news broadcaster 3TV that she called police several times on the escaped dogs being violent and unruly.

“It’s terrifying. Terrifying … she was sitting on the porch. She wasn’t even walking. She was sitting on the porch,” she said, describing how she grabbed her two-year-old daughter and ran inside.

“I picked her up by one arm and literally dragged her and ran inside the house, and the dogs came and tried to attack the fence.”