NEED TO KNOW
- A teenage girl asked her mother “Am I still pretty?” shortly after she was mauled by a pack of dogs in July
- Tracy Hurtado, 17, was out for a jog near her home in Newberry Springs, Calif., when the mauling occurred
- The teen received more than 500 stitches over her entire body following the incident
A teenage girl, who was mauled by a pack of dogs, asked her mom a heartbreaking question shortly after the attack.
Tracy Hurtado, 17, was out jogging near her home in Newberry Springs, Calif., on the morning of July 17, when more than 10 dogs attacked her, according to an alert from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department (SBCSD).
The SBCSD said the bites the young woman received from the canines “caused large lacerations, abrasions and removed flesh.”
“I thought she was gonna be fine, because she walks to her bus stop. So I never would have thought that anything would happen to her,” Hurtado’s mother, Maria Azpeitia, said, recalling the terrifying incident to ABC 7.
Azpeitia said that when she arrived on the scene after learning that her daughter had been attacked, Hurtado was unrecognizable.
“I didn’t know who she was. She was so dirty — covered in dirt. So I didn’t recognize my daughter,” the mother explained. “I recognized her bra. That’s what I recognized.”
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Azpeitia said her daughter then asked her a heartbreaking question. “I got close to her, and she [was] like, ‘Mom, am I still pretty?’ ” Maria recalled to ABC 7.
“I told her, ‘Yes, of course, you’re beautiful,’ ” she added to the outlet.
Hurtado’s stepfather, Carlos Ramirez, told ABC 7 that the teen ultimately required over 500 stitches after the attack.
“They bit every part of her body you could think of, except for her ankles,” he said.
Craig Arthur Simmons was later arrested on Aug. 13 in relation to the mauling, according to an update to the initial announcement from the SBCSD.
Simmons, 61, is allegedly the owner of the dogs. He was charged with Penal Code 399(B), which is “owner of animal causing serious bodily injury or death.”
PEOPLE reached out to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for comment on Sunday, Aug. 17, but did not receive an immediate response.
A GoFundMe established to help support the teenager’s family states that she was getting ready to begin her senior year of high school, but she now must stay home due to “doctors appointment and rehab.”
It adds that Hurtado now has trouble sleeping due to nightmares about the incident.
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