The mother of a 1-year-old baby ended up stabbing one of the family's two dogs to death after the animals attacked the baby and her younger siblings in California.
The baby's grandmother, Margaret Ann Morales, said she was at her home in Pico Rivera County when she heard screams coming from the kitchen and ran out of bed to see what was happening.
She found her two daughters struggling with the two pit bulls
to get the leg of 1-year-old Ruby Ann Cervantes out of the jaws of one of them.
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They were trying to open the jaw of the animal that had closed on the little girl's leg.
But she didn't give in.
Then the little girl's mother, Jamie Morales, grabbed a knife and started stabbing the dog.
"I came to get my daughter off my back
," Morales said, his voice cracking, as picked up by the Los Angeles affiliate of our sister network NBC News.
"It was my daughter or him, so I chose my daughter. I did what I had to do to protect her. Because I wouldn't let go of my daughter, so I had to, it makes me feel bad but I had to do it," he added.
The attack lasted about five minutes.
Ruby Ann Cervantes, 1-year-old girl attacked by a pit bull dog, on November 26, 2022.NBC Los Angeles
The baby was taken to a local hospital with a fractured hip and right shoulder, as well as several injuries to her legs.
After four hours in surgery, Cervantes remains in the intensive care unit, NBC Los Angeles reported.
The animals bit Margaret and Jamie Morales on the face and arm, respectively, for which they also received medical attention at the hospital.
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The pitt bulls had been with the family since they were puppies and had never behaved aggressively towards the baby or Morales' other three children, two girls and a boy.
They used to stay outside the house, but that day they were allowed in because they had been bathed, the grandmother explained to USA Today.
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The family believes the dog that bit the girl probably did so because she grabbed one of her toys.
The pit bull that Morales stabbed died.
Animal control authorities took the surviving dog and plan to put it to sleep.