Dogs bite toddler more than 50 times

SEMMES, Ala. (WALA) - A three-year-old girl has extensive injuries on her lower body after being brutally attacked by a group of dogs. Family members said she was bitten more than 50 times as she was playing outside her Semmes home.

Madisyn Shelton is an adorable three-year-old girl with a smile that lights up a room. Loved ones are just hoping she returns to her same old self after living through such a tragedy.

"The dogs from the neighbor's yard, they just attacked her and at one point they actually had her off the ground and dragging her. She has injuries all over her body. She required 160 stitches and has some pretty deep puncture wounds," Attorney Dean Waite said.

Waite said he was hired by the family after Madisyn was mauled by her neighbor's three dogs. Waite said he and the family are looking at a possible civil lawsuit against the dog's owner James White.

FOX10 News tried to contact White about his dogs but was unable to reach him.

Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, Jr. is troubled by the case.

"This is the most serious attack I'm aware of in Mobile County and I'm just really thankful that this child is alive. It was that dangerous and that severe," Tyson said.

Authorities said the incident involving White's dogs was so violent, that for the first time since it's been in place, officials are pursuing an act that could possibly have the dogs euthanized.

"The Alabama legislature has given us this new tool. The tool allows us to proceed in court to have the dogs declared dangerous. If we're successful with that, it allows us to petition the courts to have the dogs destroyed," Tyson added.

Tyson said he wants to make sure the dogs don't attack anybody else. Waite said he and the Shelton family are gearing up as well.

"They're angry at the dog owners. They want the dogs euthanized. The dogs are quarantined for ten days and then they're released back to the owners and they're going to be on the property. And this little girl lives next to the dogs that attacked her," Waite added.

For now, the family concentrates on Madisyn's physical and mental recovery.

Warrants have been issued for the dog's owner, on charges he let his dogs run loose. So far, he has not turned himself in.

Madisyn Shelton continues to recover at USA Children's and Women's Hospital.