A woman was viciously attacked by a pit bull on the streets of San Francisco after the canine was left unleashed by its owner.

On Tuesday morning, the woman was walking through the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood when the dog suddenly attacked her, a witness told .

The attack lasted ten to 15 minutes as passersby attempted to use pepper spray to get the dog away from the victim, the outlet reported.

It took place about a quarter mile from the neighborhood’s police station.

When police arrived on the scene, officers used a catch pole to restrain the animal.

According to the outlet, the dog and its owner frequently appear in the Tenderloin, although it remains unclear whether the dog is always kept on a leash.

A video posted to the Citizen app shows the woman lying on the ground with the pit bull beside her, its face covered in blood.

In a uploaded by Tenderloin Activities, witnesses can be heard shouting conflicting instructions at police, with some yelling, ‘Shoot that dog!’ while others shouted, ‘Don’t shoot that dog!’

A woman was viciously attacked by a pit bull on the streets of San Francisco after the canine was left unleashed by its owner

The woman was bleeding heavily from multiple limbs and was taken to the hospital in critical condition

The woman suffered severe injuries to her left hand and wrist, as well as her right hand and knee, Tenderloin Activities reported.

She was taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator. She remains in critical condition, the hospital told the DailyMail on Friday.

The dog died at the scene, and its remains were taken by officers from San Francisco Animal Care and Control, San Francisco Police Department told the DailyMail. Its owner was not located at the scene.

The cause of the dog’s dєatᩚh remains unclear, although witnesses alleged that it died as a result of rough handling by police, reported.

‘While the dog was being restrained, the dog became unresponsive and was declared deceased on scene,’ SFPD said in a statement to the DailyMail.

The police were able to identify the woman but are not able to release her name, SFPD told the DailyMail. There has been speculation that she is homeless and lives in the neighborhood. The incident is under investigation.

Tenderloin supervisor Bilal Mahmood addressed the incident on , writing: ‘This is not an isolated incident – we have regularly met and worked with families and neighbors in the TL who have experienced similar incidents with dogs in the streets over the last year.’

‘Earlier this year, we worked with SFPD Tenderloin Station on a Paw Patrol pilot to increase both enforcement and education in the neighborhood, and we will be working with SFPD again in the weeks ahead to identify similar efforts to increase enforcement and keep our communities safe.’

The San Francisco Police Department has a separate Dangerous Dogs Unit, which recently resumed its regularly scheduled hearings following a ten-month hiatus prompted by a lack of funding, according to the.

The hearings, referred to by locals as ‘dog court,’ were established in response to the Diane Whipple case, a tragic incident in which a woman was mauled to dєatᩚh by two presa canarios, according to Officer Greg Sutherland.

The dog randomly jumped on the woman and started biting her. Pedestrians were unable to restrain the canine successfully

The dog died at the scene, and its remains were taken by officers from San Francisco Animal Care and Control

Since January, the Dangerous Dogs Unit has received 729 reports of dog bites, Sutherland told the Daily Mail. Last year, the unit received 1,027 reports.

According to Sutherland, around 30-40 percent of the bites occur in the Tenderloin.

The neighborhood is home to a significant portion of San Francisco’s homeless population, many of whom keep dogs for companionship and protection, according to the .

Before the dog court hearings resumed this past July, the unit had a backlog of 66 cases, the SF Standard reported.

The Daily Mail has reached out to San Francisco and Tenderloin officials for further comment.

Source: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16115483/Pitbull-mauling-woman-sanfrancisco.html