Fox / ABC 7
"It was either him or my daughter and I chose my daughter."
A Los Angeles mother was forced to stab her family pet to death to stop it from mauling her infant daughter.
One-year-old Ruby Cervantes was attacked by her grandmother's two pit bulls at their home in Pico Rivera at 10:30 PM on Sunday night.
The family told NBC LA that the three-year-old dogs — Butch and Raider, who are siblings — had never shown signs of aggression before.
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View StoryThe pair, who were normally kept outside, were allowed into the house for a bath — when one of them suddenly attacked, possibly set off by the child crying. The second dog immediately joined in.
Ruby's grandmother Margaret Morales (pictured), who was asleep upstairs at the time, was awoken by screams and rushed down to find her three adult children trying to pull the dogs off her granddaughter.
"I walked into the kitchen and that's when I (saw)...my two daughters and my son on the floor trying to get the dogs off," she told ABC7. "Finally my daughter got up...and that's when I (saw) my granddaughter. I (saw) the dog was latched on her left leg. That's when I had to actually get my hand into his jaws and open them up and that's when he released her."
"He had her by the leg and I had to get his teeth off of her," she added to KTLA. "He bit my hand and my hand's pretty severely cut open."
The mauling continued until the child's mother Jamie Morales grabbed a kitchen knife and began stabbing both dogs, killing one instantly. The second dog suffered stab wounds, but survived.
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View Story"I had to stab the dog … I had to," she said. "It was either him or my daughter and I chose my daughter."
"I thought my daughter was going to die," she added.
The entire attack lasted three or four minutes.
Baby Ruby was rushed to Los Angeles County USC Medical Center having suffered multiple bites to her left leg, shoulder and ear. Her hip was also fractured. She underwent surgery and is expected to survive.
The child's mother was bitten in the face and lip, while her aunt and grandmother also suffered bite injuries.
Margaret Morales said she had had the dogs since they were puppies, born of the same litter. The surviving dog was handed over to animal control and is expected to be euthanized.
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