Laurence Dollimore
A YOUNG nurse has been mauled to death by five dogs in northern Spain.
Arancha Corcero, 27, was walking on a rural road near Zamora, Galicia, when the pack of animals attacked at just after 6pm on Monday.
She was said to have called her mother, screaming down the phone: “Mum, the dogs are chasing me… help!”, before the call abruptly ended.
Her panicked mum ran to find her daughter, who often took long walks between her hometown of Roales del Pan and nearby La Hiniesta and Cubillos.
She found her body ‘destroyed’, according to the mayor of Roales David Garcia.
The deadly dogs have been described as ‘huge’, with sources saying the ‘small’ health worker could do little to defend herself.
The beasts, said to be three large mastiffs and two Leonese shepherds, are particularly vicious, having been trained to ward off wolves from attacking the sheep they were protecting.
The victim usually takes her Siberian husky with her while walking, but left him at home on the day she was attacked.
The shepherd who owns the dogs is now facing charges of reckless homicide and a potential jail term of up to 15 years.
None of the animals were on leads and were not being supervised by the farmer.
They will now most likely be put down after being placed in quarantine.
The investigation by the armed Civil Guard force has revealed that the owner at no time intervened to stop the attack because he was nowhere near the sheep the dogs were guarding.
According to La Voz Galicia, locals say the dogs had already threatened other walkers and cyclists passing near the livestock farm, as well as pilgrims on the so-called Ruta de Plata.
Just last Saturday a group of women fled in terror after fearing they were going to be mauled.
Psychologists from the Regional Government of Castilla y León were sent to Roales del Pan to assist the victim’s parents, with whom she lived in the small town of around 1,000 people.
