Surveillance video captures woman mauled by 4 dogs she says belong to her ex-husband in northwest Miami-Dade

A woman remained hospitalized Friday after she was attacked by four dogs in a Northwest Miami-Dade neighborhood, an attack captured on surveillance video and described by witnesses as potentially deadly.

The dogs were removed from a nearby home by Miami-Dade Animal Services following Thursday evening's attack near Northwest 145th Street and 11th Court.

Surveillance video shows four dogs surrounding and attacking the woman as she walked through the neighborhood. A nearby resident said she heard the victim calling for help and rushed outside.

"I heard when she said, 'Help me,'" the woman told CBS News Miami. She asked not to be identified.

"I grabbed my stick and went to her and helped her," she said. "I was in shock. God let me do something to help the lady, because if I'm not here, she'd be dead."

The dogs had been living at the home of another woman, who also declined to be identified. She told CBS News Miami that the animals belonged to her ex-husband, who she said never returned to retrieve them.

"They're not my dogs, my husband's dogs, my ex-husband's dogs," she said.

The woman said the dogs escaped from her property, with some jumping a fence and another getting underneath it.

She said she felt sorry for the victim.

"It broke my heart because before, I tried to call the shelter to come pick up the dogs, but they didn't want to pick up the dogs," she said.

CBS News Miami has not independently confirmed the woman's account of her previous contacts with Animal Services.

The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to the area Thursday and found Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel treating the injured woman.

According to deputies, four terrier mixes had escaped from a property.

Deputies attempted to close and secure a gate to contain the dogs, but police said the animals then attempted to attack one of the deputies. The deputy discharged his service weapon, and the dogs fled.

Miami-Dade Animal Services was notified. One dog was captured Thursday; Animal Services returned Friday and took the remaining three.

Neighbors told CBS News Miami they had been concerned about the dogs before Thursday's attack.

Tony Khouri, who lives across from where the woman was attacked, said neighbors had discussed the animals and their ability to escape the property.

"The neighbors have been complaining to each other because they form like a pack and they've learned to scale that fence," Khouri said.

He described watching the attack unfold.

"I couldn't believe that I saw those dogs maul that lady like that," he said.

Khouri said the dogs surrounded the woman, causing her to fall before continuing the attack.

"They twisted, and she fell. They jumped on her, and they were eating her alive," he said.

"She started panicking, screaming don't leave me alone, she got really pale in the face, and then all of the neighbors tried to help her," said neighbor Elvis Shogreen "I saw it. It was flesh and blood all over the place." 

The attack happened right outside of Shogreen's house. 

"I immediately screamed and I got the hose from my house and I started spraying them," he said. "That's when they went back into their fenced area and they stayed there." 

The identity of the victim has not been released. She remained hospitalized as of Friday.