CALPELLA, Mendocino County (CBS / AP) — Northern California authorities stopped two dogs from devouring the dead body of their owner as it lay on the ground in a clearing beside the road.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Tuesday that at about 10:41 a.m. Friday a motorist reported seeing an adult male’s body lying in the 5000 block of North State Street in Calpella, about six miles north of Ukiah.

An animal control officer arrived on the scene and saw dogs — a Rottweiler and a pit bull — standing over the body of 51-year-old Pedro Tepale and attacking it.

The Rottweiler charged at the officer, and he shot the animal, who later died. The pit bull ran away but was later found and taken to an animal care facility.

The investigation into Tepale’s cause of death is ongoing, but authorities do not believe the animals killed him.

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