Dogs that attacked 12-year-old girl in Hillsdale County have been euthanized, officials say

Authorities in Hillsdale County, Michigan, requested the euthanization of four dogs after three of them attacked and wounded a 12-year-old girl and a 31-year-old woman on July 10. 

Rabies testing has been ordered on all four animals in the meantime, the Hillsdale County Prosecutor's Office said. 

Both of the victims are expected to survive their injuries, but the child was so seriously injured that she was airlifted to a hospital. The efforts of the woman who came to her rescue, "no doubt saved the life of the minor child who was attacked," the Hillsdale County Prosecutor's Office said. 

The Michigan State Police said on Wednesday that the three dogs involved in the attack, along with a fourth dog, have been euthanized on request of the Hillsdale County Prosecutor's Office. 

Testing for rabies for all four dogs is pending, with the coordination of the Hillsdale County Health Department, the prosecutor's office said. 

The prosecutor's office said that their staff requested the dogs' owner to voluntarily turn over the animals to be euthanized. If the dogs were not surrendered by July 13, the prosecutor's office would file a dangerous dog complaint in district court. 

All four dogs were surrendered on July 14 to Jackson County Animal Control, officials said. 

The investigation so far indicates that the 12-year-old girl and another girl were riding electric scooters along East Mosherville Road in Scipio Township when they noticed the dogs in the front yard of a neighbor's property.  

The prosecutor's office said the victim assumed the dogs had some means to keep them in the yard, but as she rode through the area, they began chasing her. The girl got off the scooter, thinking the vehicle was losing charge, and ran away from the dogs. 

 The animals knocked her down and began attacking her. 

The child's screams got the attention of the woman, who tried to intervene, "at which point the animals began attacking her," the prosecutor's office said. 

Shortly afterward, the child's mother arrived with a golf cart, picked up the girl, and started taking her home. 

In the meantime, the dog's owner and her son noticed what happened and pulled the animals away from the woman who had been injured. 

The four dogs are pitbull-mastiffs owned by the family. The prosecutor's office said it was later determined that the dogs had broken the lock on their enclosure and escaped. 

None of the four animals was registered with authorities, and only one of the dogs had a rabies vaccination, the prosecutor's office said. 

The investigation is continuing, Michigan State Police said.