http://video.msn.com/v/us/fv/fv.htm??g=24f1a344-62b6-4be9-b253-2a27418fee84&t=m10&f=06/64&p=&fg>1=10252http://www.komotv.com/news/local/9295026.htmlGIG HARBOR, Wash. -- A 59-year-old woman has been hospitalized after being mauled by two pit bulls who came into her house Tuesday morning.
Pierce County Sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer said the two dogs came through a door that was left slightly open and attacked the woman while she was in bed at about 9 a.m. The dogs did not belong to her.
When medics arrived at the home in the 10600 block of 132nd Street Court Northwest they found the woman had crawled into her car to escape from the dogs.
The woman, identified by neighbors as Sue Gorman, tried to shoot the dogs before running to her car where she called 911. She was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma where she was listed in satisfactory condition.
"She was injured fairly severely," Troyer said. "She'll be in the hospital for some time. She took some severe bites throughout different portions of her body." Firefighters locked the dogs in the house until animal control officers arrived, and a trail of blood was visible throughout the house.
Deputies had to use pepper spray to subdue the dogs and load them into an animal control vehicle. "We almost had to shoot them on site," Troyer said.
The dogs were taken to the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County, and will probably be destroyed, he said.
Troyer said the pit bulls also killed a Jack Russell terrier belonging to a neighbor during the attack.
Zack Martin said he owns one of the pit bulls, a 2-year-old female named Betty, and was taking care of the other, a male named Tank, while his owner was out of town. Martin said he had Tank chained up in his backyard because of a past incident in which the two dogs got out and caused trouble together, but he allowed Betty to run loose in the fenced backyard. On Tuesday, he found the chain broken and both dogs gone.
"We never saw it coming," he said. "They're the kinds of dogs you'd let play with your babies."
Pierce County Animal Control Officer Brian Boman said animal control officers have had past run-ins with the pit bulls, but couldn't say exactly how many.
Gorman's service dog was in the house at the time of the attack but was not injured.