Residents of the rural California community say that the pack of dogs has been terrorizing them for several months.
A 56-year-old woman was mauled to death after a pack of 24 Great Danes attacked her. The woman's neighbor says her death could have been avoided.
Davina Corbin was killed by the pack of dogs that had been terrorizing residents of a rural California community for several months.
Neighbor Max Hecker says he was also attacked by the pack that surrounded his car.
"The big male, he's tall, his head was higher than the top of my car and he come at me growling and I rolled the window up and I just took off and made them scatter out of my way," Hecker says.
The dogs reportedly belong to a property owner who lets them run free, but neighbors say they appear malnourished.
Hecker says he and his neighbors called Animal Control about the pack several times.
"This is a tragedy that should never have happened, never, and that's what's so sad about it," Hecker says.
After Corbin's death, the animals were rounded up. County Animal Control officials say they checked on the pack in May but did not believe they were dangerous.
"There was no mention of aggressive behavior at that time. Animal Control officers observed the dogs to be calm and friendly. The dogs were lean but still in normal body condition for the breed," Elaine McSpadden, environmental health division director of Butte County Public Health, tells Inside Edition.
Great Danes have a reputation for being gentle giants. Most are smart and rarely aggressive.
The local sheriff's department is investigating the incident.
"We would have to prove that [the dogs' owner] was present and either did something to provoke the attack or failed to stop it and our investigation at this point indicates that he was not present when the attack occurred," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea says.
