7-year-old Bennington girl attacked by pack of dogs

BENNINGTON, Okla. (KXII) - A 7-year-old girl is covered in gashes and stitches after being attacked by a pack of dogs this weekend.

Her dog died to save her.

A warning, some of the images in the video above are graphic.

Police say this is one of several attacks in Bennington by owner Michael Wright’s dogs. They lives across the street from Ali Rocha, the girl who was hurt this weekend.

Police say since 2019, Wright’s dogs have attacked a young girl, a teenage boy and 56-year-old Alan Bruce, who died days later.

Wright was charged with second-degree manslaughter and his first hearing is set for next week.

But since there hasn’t been a court order demanding him to surrender his dogs, he doesn’t have to.

Police say the dogs who killed Bruce are dead, so the ones that attacked Ali over the weekend are different animals.

“I thought I was going to pass out,” Ali said.

Ali riding her scooter in her front yard on Saturday when three dogs started attacking her.

“I remember two dogs were right here, then there was one on my arm. Then the second one came over here,” Ali said.

Her mom Ashleia had gone inside for less than a minute, and ran back outside to start beating them with the scooter.

“And they were continuing to drag her. They weren’t letting go, they weren’t going to let her go,” Ashleia said.

That’s when Balto, their 15-pound Maltese-Chihuahua mix, came to the rescue.

He started biting one of the dog’s and got it off of Ali.

They turned their attention to him and he ran them off, but then three other dogs joined them and killed him.

“She’s had that dog since the day she was born. And he died giving his life up to save hers,” Ashleia said.

He’s named after the 90′s Disney movie Balto, based on a true story, where a dog risks his life to save children.

Ali’s Balto, living up to his namesake.

“I miss him a lot,” Ali said.

Her bearded dragon Bertha’s been keeping her company.

Ali’s left with stitches all over with gashes on her leg, bottom and arm, some too deep to close.

“Because she had the tissue from her wounds just in her hand. She thought it was her gut and she thought she was going to die,” Ashleia said.

The dogs are quarantined now, but Ashleia says they need to be gone for good.

But she says something should have been done a year and a half ago, when Bruce was killed.

“The dogs need to all be put down. All of them,” Ashleia said.

A dog bite or attack is a civil case in Oklahoma. So if someone is injured on public property or their own, and the dogs were unprovoked, it’s a misdemeanor charge with a punishment of up to a year in jail and a fine up to $5,000.

Plus, if charged, the owner would have to pay for damages, which Ashleia says will total tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

But for Ashleia, it’s about her daughter’s life.

“My daughter could be dead right now. Like I could have lost my kid within a matter of minutes,” she said.

Wright didn’t want to interview on Monday, but said he’s sad about what happened to Ali.

He claims the dogs aren’t his, they just live on his property and he feeds them.

Bennington police said if you consistently feed a dog, they are legally yours.

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