Wild dogs kill 4 in Mexico City park

Wild dogs mauled and killed four people whose bodies were found over the past two weeks in a park on the edge of Mexico City, authorities said Monday. In one case, a teenage girl frantically called her sister with her cellphone to plead for help as the attack took place.

Neighbours of the Cerro de la Estrella, a partly wooded, hilltop park surrounded by the city's poor and populous Iztapalapa district, first found the bodies of a 26-year-old woman and a 1-year-old child in the area on Dec. 29, authorities in Mexico's capital said.

The woman, Shunashi Mendoza, was missing her left arm, and prosecutors said that both she and the boy had bled to death and been partially eaten.

Then on Friday visitors to the same park found the bodies of a teenage couple who had also bled to death.

"Experts have established that due to the gravity of the wounds, at least 10 dogs were involved in each attack," Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement.

In the second attack, Alejandra Ruiz, 15, and her boyfriend Samuel Martinez, 16, had gone to the park Friday afternoon.

The girl called her sister Diana Ruiz at around 7 p.m. pleading for help.

"Several dogs are attacking us, help me!" the girl screamed. The call then stopped.

Ruiz told Milenio Television she thought her sister was joking and still doesn't believe her sister was killed by dogs despite the call.

At least 100 police officers were scouring the park in search of wild dogs. They had trapped 25 by Monday night, including 10 females, eight males and seven puppies. The dogs had been living in caves and crevices in the park, prosecutors said.

Experts are testing the dogs' hair for traces of human blood and will also test their stomach contents. Authorities did not say what they would do with the animals.