Teen Girl, Mauled by Over 10 Dogs While Jogging, Asked Her Mom Heartbreaking Question After the Attack

A teenage girl who was attacked by a pack of dogs asked her mom a heartbreaking question soon after the incident.

Tracy Hurtado, 17, was jogging near her home in Newberry Springs, Calif., on the morning of July 17, when more than 10 dogs attacked her, according to an alert from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department (SBCSD).

The SBCSD said the bites Hurtado received from the dogs “caused large lacerations, abrasions and removed flesh.”

“I thought she was gonna be fine because she walks to her bus stop. So I never would have thought that anything would happen to her,” Hurtado’s mother, Maria Azpeitia, said, recalling the terrifying incident to ABC 7.

Azpeitia said that when she arrived after learning her daughter had been attacked, Hurtado was unrecognizable.

“I didn’t know who she was. She was so dirty — covered in dirt. So I didn’t recognize my daughter,” the mother explained. “I recognized her bra. That’s what I recognized.”

Azpeitia said her daughter then asked a heartbreaking question. “I got close to her, and she [was] like, ‘Mom, am I still pretty?’” Maria recalled to ABC 7.

“I told her, ‘Yes, of course, you’re beautiful,’” she added to the outlet.

Hurtado’s stepfather, Carlos Ramirez, told ABC 7 that the teen eventually needed more than 500 stitches after the attack.

“They bit every part of her body you could think of, except for her ankles,” he said.

Craig Arthur Simmons was later arrested on Aug. 13 in connection with the mauling, according to an update from the SBCSD.

Simmons, 61, is reportedly the owner of the dogs. He was charged with Penal Code 399(B), which is “owner of animal causing serious bodily injury or death.”

A GoFundMe set up to support Hurtado’s family says she was about to start her senior year of high school, but now must stay home for “doctor’s appointments and rehab.”

It also says Hurtado now struggles to sleep because of nightmares about the attack