Boy survives dog mauling - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Boy survives dog mauling

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Tift County- Ana Valdez still can't believe her son Ramiro is still alive.

"I always see on the news about little kids being attacked by dogs, and I thought it was never going to happen to us," says Ana Valdez.

Friday afternoon the seven year old was riding his bike along Tift County Line Road when he was attacked.

"Four dogs came out and mauled him. It was two labs, a Doberman, and a bulldog mix. Two hundred bites from his head to his feet, tore up his leg and his calf pretty bad," says animal control officer Reginia Wells of Tifton-Tift County Animal Shelter.

Ramiro tried to use a beer bottle to fight off the dogs. Investigators say the canines probably only stopped attacking when he passed out.

After the attack, Ramiro walked two hundred yards down the road to his house. That's when his mother found him and called authorities.

"I thought that someone had beat him up or someone had raped him. A lot of different things went through my mind until I got real close to him. Then I realized it was a dog," says Valdez.

All four dogs were captured Saturday. One was euthanized because it didn't have rabies shots. Authorities say this isn't the first time three of them have attacked a child.

"People have to call us and tell us if a dog attacks another dog, chickens or anything like that because once they get the taste of blood, they're going for something else," says Wells.

Sadly, Friday Ramiro was that something else. His mother believes her son found the strength to stay alive because he wanted to get to Jesus, his twin brother.

"I feel like the reason that he made it back to the house while he was going through this ordeal he had in mind his twin brother," says Valdez. "He told me mom I'm okay, don't worry. He did not cry. He wasn't screaming or anything like that. He's a little fighter," she says.

He's a fighter that has amazingly survived one of biggest battles of his life.

Investigators will present their case to the Tift County dangerous dog board. It's comprised of three members who will decide the fate of the dogs and whether to charge their owner.

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