Mother-Of-3 Mauled To Death By 'Massive' Pet Dogs As Neighbors Try Fighting Them Off

A woman was mauled to death by her two "massive" and "muscly" pet dogs inside her home in Widnes, England, on Tuesday evening.

Neighbors rushed to 44-year-old Elayne Stanley’s home after her daughter came out screaming for help saying “the dogs are attacking mum.” The neighbors tried fighting off the canines with tools and bricks.

Recalling the incident, Bev Hal, a neighbor, said, “We (she and her partner) were here putting the tea on and the next thing her daughter Louise came running in screaming for help saying ‘the dogs are attacking mum’."

Upon reaching the scene, she said she could hear a dog "growling and scratching.” Hal and her partner tried to distract the dogs by throwing things and banging the windows. Meanwhile, other neighbors too arrived and started throwing bricks at the animals from the side door. The neighbors managed to confine the dogs in the backyard and locked them out.

Carl Rees, 28, another neighbor, said another man was also there in the kitchen trying to distract the dogs, which he described as "massive". A woman who lives nearby said the dogs were "muscly" and similar in appearance to mastiffs.

Stanley, a mother-of-three, was critically injured and “had bled out” by the time the paramedics arrived. She succumbed to injuries at the scene. Meanwhile, while one of the dogs was shot dead by the police, the other was tranquilized and seized. The breed of the dogs was not known.

Confirming the incident, a Cheshire Police spokesman said, "At around 5.15 p.m. (12.15 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday police received reports that a 44-year-old woman had been attacked by two dogs at an address on Graham Road in Widnes. Officers attended the property and discovered that the woman was in a serious condition. Sadly, despite the best efforts of all those involved, the woman died at the scene. Her next of kin have been informed and are being supported by officers. Following the attack, repeated attempts were made by officers to safely secure the two dogs in order to remove them from the address. One was safely detained, however officers were unable to secure the second dog. Attempts were made to tranquilize the second dog but this was unsuccessful so, in the interests of public safety, the dog was destroyed. The other dog remains in a secure kennel."

Detective Inspector Ian Whiley said, “We understand that people in the local community will be concerned when they hear about what has happened. But I would like to reassure residents that we are doing all that we can to establish the full circumstances of the incident. However, at this stage, it is believed that the dogs were known to the woman and were living at the address. This has been an extremely distressing incident and our thoughts are with the woman’s family at this difficult time.”