On March 28, 2009, 48-year-old Gordon Lykins of Winterhaven, Calif. was attacked by dogs near a drainage canal road a few miles north of Yuma, Arizona. He died on April 10, 2009, from those injuries. (To read the article, click here.)
It is believed that up to 11 dogs were involved in this attack. The dogs, of mixed breeds, apparently were loose at the time of the attack. However, the details of the attack are not sufficiently provable at this time, because Lykins was kept under sedation while being treated. Therefore the police are searching for witnesses to the mauling.
This is another unusual death. Nevertheless, one factor from the Dog Attack Danger Scale apparently was present here: the pack mentality. Three dogs are worse than 2, 4 are worse than 3, etc. Docile dogs often become uncharacteristically violent and vicious when they are in a pack. In 2008, 39% of the fatalities involved multiple dogs.
