CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A warning about packs of loose dogs after a number of bite cases have been reported in the city in just the last week.
Three of those cases reportedly took place at Del Mar College's Heritage Campus at Ayers Street and Baldwin Boulevard.
Officials there also putting out a safety advisory for students, staff and campus visitors to remain vigilant.
63-year-old Luciano Quintanilla considers himself lucky.
"It could have been worse, if it happened to me it could happen to anybody," he said.
Quintanilla lifted up his pant leg to show 3NEWS a nasty bite wound after he said he was approached by a pack of aggressive dogs at Hibiscus Street and Highland Avenue which is near Port Avenue as he walked back home from the bus stop Thursday evening.
"When they went to attack me, I was fighting them off and it bit me, it couldn't get away because it had my pant, brought me to the ground, made me lose my balance," he said.
The man said he fell on one of the dogs and that's when another one went in, and took another bite.
"When I was going down, I said, 'Oh my God, I'm going to die,'" he said.
Quintanilla said his neighbor came over to help get the dogs off and they left.
An ambulance was called out to treat his wounds.
He said there were about four dogs all together and that animal control was also called but weren't able to locate the animals.
It was during our interview when some of the dogs came back.
"That's one of them right there? These are the dogs?," asked reporter Bill Churchwell.
Luciano told the 3NEWS crew to, "watch out!" as the dogs barked and got within inches of our crew.
A third dog also approached but they all eventually left.
Quintanilla is worried about his neighbors.
"I do want someone to do something about it, because there's kids," he said.
The issue is citywide.
One resident shared a picture with 3NEWS of a pack of dogs spotted at the corner of Norton and Ramsey Street.
For 17-year-old Charles Vela, what started as a normal Valentine's Day, took a turn.
"I was leaving school when I noticed a pack of around six dogs running through the parking lot," Vela said.
The Collegiate High School senior was leaving a duel-credit class at Del Mar College's Heritage Campus.
"Where out of nowhere, boom I'm bitten before I know it," he said "I jump and scream in pain."
Within seconds the dogs took off leaving him bleeding with four puncture wounds.
Vela shared pictures of his injury as he received treatment for it.
Friday he said he was still pretty sore and he felt it was important to speak out to bring attention to the issue.
"We feel obligated to let people know because there's older people there on campus," the teen said.
3NEWS has learned his incident is one of three bite cases that have happened in the last week at the Del Mar campus.
An advisory from officials there has since been sent out.
"We have increased our patrol," Police Chief Lauren White with Del Mar said. "We have reached out to animal control, we're also working with the city to come up with ways we can be proactive, to assist animal control in getting these dogs picked up that have been a real problem in and around the area."
Miguel Escobar at Animal Care Services said they are aware of recent bite cases that have been reported and are actively patrolling for those loose dogs.
"Throughout the city what we are seeing for these specific packs of dogs that are popping up, we have lots of female dogs in heat that are attracting unaltered males," he said.
Those male dogs can get aggressive.
Escobar is asking for dog owners to make sure their animals are not getting out and is sending out a reminder that dog owners, if caught, could end up facing fines not only for dogs being off a leash, but also for not being fixed.
The city intact pet permit policy went into effect back in October.
He said they do have a community outreach pet assistance program for those pet owners who can't afford to get their dog fixed.
You can find out more through the City's website.
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