ACO Mauled by Dog
- Code Enforcement Officer Safety Foundation
- May 30, 2025
- 2 min read
2025 - Broward County Animal Care Animal Control officer was hospitalized with serious injuries after she was attacked by a dog.
May 30, 2025
A woman who works as a Broward County Animal Care Animal Control officer was hospitalized with serious injuries after she was attacked by a dog in Fort Lauderdale Thursday night, police said.
Fort Lauderdale Police said officers responded to the 700 block of Southwest 14th Terrace around 7:15 p.m. after receiving a call about a woman attacked by a dog.
“We looked over the fence to see that one of our neighbors’ dogs was mauling an animal control employee to death," neighbor Gregory Campbell said.
Campbell said his mother called 911 when they heard the woman cry for help and saw the dog had its teeth around the woman's neck.
"Emergency, please. The dog is mauling her. There's a dog mauling her," Campbell's mother is heard telling 911.
When officers arrived, they found the injured woman, who was rushed to Broward Health Medical Center with injuries police initially described as life-threatening, but police said Friday that they were serious injuries.
Broward County Animal Care said the woman is one of their animal control officers who was doing a welfare check on the American Staffordshire terrier mix.
“The dog had its teeth in her neck, so we rushed next door and attempted to separate the animal control employee from the dog," Campbell said.
Campbell said they first tried to use a shovel to get the dog off the woman, but it didn’t work, so his mother passed him a knife.
“The dog saw me coming with a knife and proceeded to attack me, and I attacked the dog with a knife as well," he said. "My mother saw that the dog was going to attack me further, so she threw her body weight on top of the dog, and I threw my body weight on top of the other part of the dog."
Once authorities arrived, they were able to remove the dog, which was later euthanized.
The woman remained hospitalized Friday but was expected to survive, police said.
Campbell said he was covered in blood from the woman, who was seriously injured with bites to her face, neck, chest and legs.
“It’s life and death. I would like to think that any reasonable human being would have acted accordingly as well," he said.
Broward County Animal Care will investigate the incident, police said.
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