An 81-year-old man is grieving the loss of his best friend after four dogs mauled his pet dachshund to death.

In an interview with CityNews, Kurt Haupt says he was walking his 14-year-old dog, Dacky, at Centennial Park on Wednesday when four other dogs – who were off-leash – came up and attacked her.

“I’m seeing these four big dogs like this running up there,” explained Haupt while fighting back tears. “My dog, she runs towards them. Immediately they grabbed her and dropped her.”

“I knew she was dead.”

Haupt says after the attack, the four dogs and the person who was with them left without saying a word.

“He didn’t say anything. He didn’t say anything to me.”

Officials with Toronto Animal Services have identified the attack dogs as Italian Mastiff’s (Cane Corso). They say they are a step closer to tracking down this individual and are working with Toronto police to find him or her.

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