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An elderly man, and a woman he was trying to help, suffered serious injuries and were taken to the hospital following a pit bull attack in East Oakland.

The nephew of victim Ronnie Armstrong says he's being treated at Highland Hospital.

Friends of the 71-year-old man say his injuries are serious but that he's recovering.



"They bit him in the face, the arms, his foot legs and she also got the same treatment," says Clark Billinger, Armstrong's friend and neighbor.



Police and Oakland Animal Services responded to a report of a dog attack around 10 a.m. Friday.

on the 2600 block of 63rd Avenue in East Oakland.

One neighbor shot cell-phone video of Armstrong being taken to the hospital.

Witnesses say he had been trying to help a woman and her dog, who were being attacked by one or two pit bulls.



"Imagine a mummy all wrapped up with blood everywhere. That's how it was from there. I just went back down the street. I couldn't look at that," says Mel Baker, a neighbor.



Animal Services tells KTVU two female pit bulls were found on the scene and their owner surrendered them to authorities.

The agency's director Rebecca Katz says it's unclear if one or both dogs attacked.


Another dog, belonging to the woman who was bitten, was killed during the attack.

"Her dog was involved. She tried to break up the fight and that's where she got injured. Her dog was killed . Her dog had a history. We had several concerns about her dog, I believe, was declared potentially dangerous," says Katz.



She says the 53-year-old woman was scheduled to surrender her dog Thursday but failed to do so.

Neighbors say the female victim is a transient who comes with her dog, looking for recyclables.

Neighbors say the owner of the pit bulls got them after he was robbed and kept them enclosed in his backyard.

It's unclear how they escaped.

No one had heard of trouble with the pit bulls before this attack.

"Never, never. He just told me don't go in the backyard," says Dillinger.

Neighbors say there's a lot of dogs including pit bulls in the area. But this attack comes as a shock.

"It was unbelievable. I couldn't even look at him. That was how bad it was . It was really bad," says Billinger.

Animal Services says the pit bulls are quarantined. Depending on what the investigation reveals,

they will likely be destroyed.

If the owner wants them back, he'll have to go through an appeal process.

A hospital spokeswoman was unable to give us a condition update for Armstrong or the female victim.