Coarsegold woman mauled by dogs on Chukchansi Picayune Indian Reservation

COARSEGOLD, Calif. (KFSN) -- A 63-year-old Chukchansi Indian woman was mauled by a pack of dogs on the reservation near Coarsegold on Sunday.

Karen Shultz suffered severe bites and lacerations. She is being treated at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno.

Her nephew Brian Haanen told Action News she was walking to a friend's home in a wooded area near her house when the dogs went after her.

"She had gotten attacked by six pit bulls she said and maybe a couple of other black dogs. She was hurt very bad, very bad," he said.

Madera County sheriff's deputies and animal control officers arrived in the area off of Road 417 and Cemetery Road near the Chukchansi Hotel and Casino to capture the suspected dogs. A local resident helped them catch several animals. None appeared to be pit bulls, and most were small to medium in size. Traps are being set to catch several larger dogs that evaded capture.

The animals were all taken to the Madera County Animal Shelter. But shelter director Kirsten Gross says there's no way of knowing yet which dogs were involved in the attack.

"We don't know and I don't think anybody was witness to it either, so it has to be the entire pack that we assume did the damage," she said.

Gross said the animals will be kept under quarantine to check for rabies and to monitor their temperament. Gross says even seemingly gentle dogs can become vicious when in a pack situation against a helpless victim.

"They get very dangerous. If they find something weaker, that's what they jump on, and they jump on as a pack as a wolf pack would on prey, and it's very, very scary," she said.

Haanen says roaming packs of dogs have been a big problem in and around the reservation.

"It makes me feel sick to my stomach with all these dogs running around loose, we've had issues before in prior years," he said.

Among the animals taken into custody on Monday was a litter of puppies. According to one version of the attack told to the Madera County Sheriff's Department, the puppies had been nipping at the woman's heels as she walked, and the mother dog then attacked her and was joined by other dogs.

Shultz was released from intensive care on Monday, but her family tells Action News she suffered severe injuries to her face and head and will require extensive surgeries over the next several months.

Madera County is continuing to investigate the incident. Deputies are not sure if the attack occurred on tribal land, or on county property. If it occurred on tribal land, they believe the county's animal control ordinances might not apply.