No owner surfaces after dogs attack pedestrians near school

No one has claimed ownership of three dogs that roamed around a South Los Angeles elementary school Tuesday, attacking pedestrians who were unlucky enough to come upon them.

The dogs were “wandering the streets” and bit several women, said LAPD Lt. Julie Patton.

The first attack was witnessed by children in the kindergarten area of Manhattan Place Elementary School. Students alerted parents and a teacher’s assistant, said principal Gonzalo Bayardo.

“We pulled her in and called paramedics,” Bayardo said. The woman’s leg was bleeding, and she received treatment in the nurse’s office, authorities said.

Administrators ordered everyone to stay inside until the dogs were captured, Bayardo said. While paramedics were en route for the first attack, they learned of three more attacks just a block away, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Main.

In all, four women were bitten and three of them were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Main said.

The dogs, which officials initially identified as German shepherds, are two Belgian malinois and a Dutch shepherd, said Jan Selder, director of field operations for Los Angeles Animal Services.

“They were difficult to impound, it took a couple officers,” she said.

The breeds are “reactive” she said, and are commonly used by police departments. The dogs are being quarantined for 10 days to see if they exhibit any signs of rabies while authorities wait to see if any one shows up to claim them. The dogs had no tags and no microchips implanted in them with identifying information, Selder said.

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