Updated at 1 p.m. Tuesday: Revised to reflect that the dog’s owner has been released to immigration officials.

Hector Vallejo was at work Friday when he got a call from his wife saying his elderly mother-in-law had been attacked by dogs at a park in the Red Bird area of far southern Dallas.

“I thought of the worst,” Vallejo said.

Maria Robledo suffered severe injuries on her arms and legs Friday morning when three loose dogs mauled her at Beckley Heights Park across the street from her Highcrest Drive home, Vallejo said. She’s 75 years old, according to a Dallas police record.

Martha Yescas-Lira, 44, was arrested Friday on a third-degree felony charge of attack by dog causing serious bodily injury, police said. She was released into the custody of U.S. immigration officials at 1:04 a.m. Monday, Dallas County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Raul Reyna said.

The dogs, one pit bull mix and two American bulldogs, were surrendered to Dallas Animal Services, said the department’s director, Ed Jamison.

“We don’t place animals that cause attacks like that,” Jamison said.

Tire tracks run through Beckley Heights Park in Dallas where a good Samaritan in a pickup ran off three dogs that attacked an elderly woman. (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

Vallejo, 34, expects Robledo to be in the hospital for one to two weeks, he said. He told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that Robledo has dog bites all over her body and also broke a hand, dislocated her arm and had cuts on her head.

“Her condition is delicate, but we are waiting to hear what the doctors say,” Robledo told The Dallas Morning News on Saturday afternoon.

By Saturday evening, Robledo was out of the ICU and listed in fair condition at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

Neighbors said the family had moved into the new house just a few months ago. Now, Vallejo said he fears for the safety of his family after the attack and perceives loose dogs to be a big problem.

Chris Long, Robledo’s next-door neighbor and a longtime resident of the neighborhood, said he’s not aware of any other animal attacks and hopes this will bring more awareness that pet owners’ need to secure their dogs.

“I just really hope that our neighbor gets well and comes home soon,” Long said.

Witnesses who chased away the dogs pointed police to where the animals had run, and officers found them at a home in the 6600 block of Starkey Street.

Michael Jensen, who lives across the street, told NBC5 that he jumped in his truck when he saw what was happening. Others helped the woman while he chased the dogs away. Jensen said he drove over the curb into the field and hit all three dogs twice with his truck but they still got away.

“I wanted to kill them. I didn’t want to hurt them," he said. “I wanted them dead when I saw what they did to that woman.”

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson in a statement Saturday said he was “horrified” to hear of the attack and is praying for Robledo’s recovery.

“We have had too many of these attacks by loose dogs in our city over the years, and our residents need to know that we will not tolerate irresponsible dog ownership in Dallas,” Johnson said.

Martha Yescas-Lira was arrested on a charge of attack by dog. (Dallas County Jail)

A history of dog maulings

The city for years has struggled to solve the problem of vicious dogs and attacks. The loose-dog problem in Dallas especially became a focus at City Hall three years ago after a gruesome attack on 52-year-old Antoinette Brown.

Brown, who died a week after the May 2016 attack, was bitten more than 100 times. Her family said the dogs devoured Brown as though they were “eating a steak.”

After the attack, a scathing audit concluded that the department had failed to properly secure and inspect its shelter and respond to dangerous animals.

The consultant estimated that to solve the city’s dog problem, Dallas needed to perform 46,000 spay-and-neuter surgeries, pick up more loose dogs, cut down euthanasia as much as possible and get private volunteers and donors involved.

Antoinette Brown, the victim of dog mauling in South Dallas, shown in military uniform about 30 years ago. (KXAS-TV)

But city officials have most recently praised the department’s new leader, Jamison, who was hired under City Manager T.C. Broadnax and took the helm in October 2017.

Jamison said the department has decreased euthanasia counts by 5,000 since the 2016 fiscal year and now has an 86.7% live release rate.

But he acknowledges that loose dogs, especially those that are owned, are “still very much a problem.”

Last fiscal year the city counted 558 loose-dog bites, more than three-fourths of which were from pets that weren’t properly secured. A June attack made headlines when three Rottweiler-mix dogs mauled two people in Ferguson Park.

Police said the three dogs who attacked Robledo on Friday morning appeared to have escaped underneath a fenced yard.

“We’re fighting it really, really hard,” Jamison said. “We’re in no way, shape or form out of the woods.”

Council member Casey Thomas, who represents the area where the attack occurred, said “great strides” have been made to crack down on loose dogs.

The 2016 audit by Boston Consulting Group in 2016 showed that just 15 percent of dogs in southern Dallas were spayed or neutered. That compared with 80 percent in the north.

While Thomas said the city still has “a ways to go” on its neutering efforts in southern Dallas, officials believe the issue of loose dogs and animal attacks is widespread throughout Dallas.

“We have to make sure that those dog owners are held responsible,” Thomas said. “I think we’re on the right track, and I think we have to keep doing what we’re doing."

KXAS-TV (NBC5) contributed to this report.