“She sat conscious while five pit bulls latched onto her, biting her hands and dragged her off of a fence,” said Prosper Wegscheid. “They played tug-of-war with her for five minutes while she screamed for help.”

A woman riding her bicycle in Dixie County last week was attacked by five dogs and suffered injuries that required surgery Monday at UF Health Shands Hospital.

Prosper Wegscheid told The Sun Monday that his wife, Sara, was riding her bike Wednesday in Old Town, about 50 miles west of Gainesville, when she was attacked by five dogs that were described as pit bulls.

“They just started tearing her apart,” he said.

The attack happened at about 6:30 p.m., he said. She was riding the bike on Northeast 817th Street, when a dog ran toward her and bit her bike’s tire.

Four other pit bulls followed and attacked Sara Wegscheid, her husband said.

He said she suffered hundreds of puncture wounds and at least seven wounds where flesh had been ripped away.

“She sat conscious while five pit bulls latched onto her, biting her hands and dragged her off of a fence,” he said. “They played tug of war with her for five minutes while she screamed for help.”

Neighbors — not the dogs' owner — came to her rescue, scaring off the dogs by firing shotguns, Prosper Wegscheid said.

He said the owners showed little remorse. Meanwhile, Sara Wegscheid was bleeding in the street.

She was transported to UF Health Shands Wednesday, where she remained Monday.

She had just gotten out of surgery Monday afternoon. Doctors have worked to repair skin wounded from dog bites with skin grafts but so far, they haven’t been successful.

Doctors will try to perform skin grafts again Thursday, Prosper Wegscheid said, but he wasn’t optimistic it would work.

“We’ll be here until at least Wednesday but if the skin grafts don’t work, we’ll be here even longer,” he said.

Dixie County sheriff's officials could not be reached as of Monday afternoon. Calls to Animal Services and a public information officer were sent to voicemail. Voicemails weren't returned.

Prosper Wegscheid said he heard from the Sheriff’s Office that four of the dogs that attacked his wife were put down.

“They wasted no time with those four,” he said.

Within the last year, The Sun has reported at least six dog attacks which have occurred in Alachua County. There was no readily available dog attack data or reports from Dixie County.

On March 22, five dogs, described as pit bulls, terrorized the Northwood Pines neighborhood in Gainesville and injured a dog.

On March 8, Kinnamon Tanner, 2, was fatally mauled at the home of his aunt in High Springs by two dogs that were in the yard.

Lorraine Anderson was injured and her dog Tico killed on Feb. 26 while they were walking in Palmetto Villas. Anderson was injured trying to save Tico. The culprits were two neighboring dogs that had gotten through a hole in the fence.

In December a puggle named Fred was killed as he being walked in an Alachua neighborhood by Arlene Stewart, who was injured, by two dogs that got out of a house unexpected.

Also in December, a Gainesville boy was injured while riding his bike by a dog that got out of the house. It also killed a cat.

Bella, a small mixed breed owned Linda Swinburn, was attacked and killed in Northwood Pines neighborhood in September.

Though distraught over his wife’s injuries, Prosper Wegscheid said he doesn’t blame the dogs; he blames their owners.

“It’s not the dogs' fault,” he said. “People like that shouldn’t have dogs.”