SACRAMENTO — One man sustained bite marks and bruising after being attacked by a pack of dogs running wild along the American River Parkway.
The man, who would only go by the name Andrew, was on his second lap of the trail on Sunday when he noticed a puppy approach him out of nowhere.
“I really wasn’t super concerned about it at first until they started circling me and almost kind of hurting me,” Andrew said.
At that point, Andrew knew he had to separate himself from the dogs without making any sudden or aggressive moves.
“The biggest thing is just try to stay calm,” Andrew said. “They started nipping at me. I knew at this point I was going to get bit, regardless of what I did.”
Andrew then made his way toward a bathroom around 100 yards away.
“I just kind of slowly walked towards the bathroom, meanwhile getting bit,” he recalled. “But there’s really nothing. I think if I would’ve ran, it would’ve been a lot worse.”
Andrew eventually got help thanks to a few men, who happened to be driving by and stopped to help.
Others have had the same run-ins. Andrew was the third person to get mauled.
“Three people, different people, have been bitten by dogs in this area in the last … since the weekend. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” said senior animal control officer Calyn Jones.
Animal control has been out searching the parkway regularly since the attacks and believe they have found where one of the adult dogs is hiding.
“We’re doing what we can by using large dog traps,” Jones said. “We have officers come by every couple of hours to check on that.”
Another one of the dogs, a black German shepherd, was captured Tuesday.
“We do have a potential dog in custody right now at the shelter,” Jones said.
As for the fate of the other dogs, if and when they are caught Bobby Mann with Front Street Animal Shelter says the dogs will not necessarily be put down.
“Typically we are not placing stray animals back up for adoption that do have bite reports just because of public safety and liability. We want to make sure that people are staying safe,” Mann said.
Front Street also says they are talking with rescue organizations that may be interested in rehabilitating those dogs, potentially giving them a permanent home.
