After the painful funeral last Wednesday Arancha C.the 27-year-old victim of an attack by a pack of dogs, the town of Roales del Pan (Zamora) seeks answers to endless questions. The most disturbing is why the animals – three mastiffs, two Leonese shepherds and two of the above puppies, herding dogs who were guarding a flock of sheep -, attacked with such ferocity the young woman, who was taking a walk along a path near the meadow where the cattle were loose.
“The mastiffs, if you approach them, they will warn you. They bark at you, they raise their heads voice, they raise their heads. And if you get too close, at most it will bite you. But here we talk about a direct attack to one person, probably led by the alpha male of the pack and followed by the others,” he reflects. David Garciamayor of Roales del Pan, located seven kilometers from Zamora and with a thousand inhabitants who are experiencing a collective mourning unprecedented in its history.
“The behavior of the animals is being investigated, because aggressiveness is not normal with which they acted. Is it an acquired behavior, the result of training? “The mayor explains his concern.” Some caregivers leave them without food for several days so that they are more aggressive. We have seen cases of dogs that are very aggressive because their owners have trained them to be that way,” continues David García’s reasoning to immediately launch the second great unknown that hovers over the event. “And what? where was the shepherd“Who has the obligation to be with their animals, guarding them or putting a control mechanism in place?” he asks.
The owner of the dogs, Pedro G.55 years old and resident in the neighboring town of The Hiniesta (300 inhabitants), was not next to the herd nor in the immediate vicinity, judging by how the events occurred. Both towns are about two kilometers apart and are linked by a paved road that is all straight. Arancha took a walk -Monday, October 23, 6:00 p.m.– not on this road but on a concentration road, an unpaved road that surrounds a farm.
The attack occurred, explains the mayor, right on the border between one municipal area and another, about 50 meters from the Camino de Santiago. The young woman, who worked as nurse in Zamora and lived with her parents in Roales del Pan, an only child, she was especially attached to her mother, with whom she spoke on the phone when she saw that the animals were heading towards her. She “she told her mother: ‘The dogs are coming!’ ¡they attack me!, ¡help!’. Her mother took her car and kept talking to her, ‘help me!’, until she couldn’t hear her anymore.”