Minneapolis mother reports vicious dog attack: “I fought for my children”

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis mother risked her life to protect her children while vicious dog attack.

Angel Rivers and her two sons Marcal (8) and Kani Jr. (3) still bear the bandages and scars from the brutal bites.

“My injuries were life-threatening and you didn’t know how it would turn out, but sometimes the body has more strength than you think because I fought for my children,” Rivers said.

Last month, the boys were on their trampoline in north Minneapolis when a pit bull from next door jumped on it with them. A second pit bull circled around them, barking.

“They just came out of nowhere,” Marcal said.

Rivers says maternal instinct took over.

“I just thought, ‘Oh no, my babies are in trouble,'” she said. “I knew I had to fight, and fight really hard.”

The dogs tore both of her arms to the bone and mutilated her foot. She had to undergo several operations and learn to walk again.

Marcal escaped with a few bites on his leg and called for help.

“He did a great job,” Rivers said. “I’m so proud of him.”

Kani had torn part of his face.

“I just kept my eye on (Kani) because I thought, ‘If anything happens to me, I’m going to drop forward on him and he’ll be fine,'” Rivers said.

Finally, help came in the form of a Good Samaritan neighbor.

“There was a board there that I picked up and swung at the dogs to get them off her,” Ron Swengel, her neighbor, told WCCO last month.

“We really live in an area where people look out for others,” Rivers said. “(Ron) basically put himself in danger as well.”

Rivers says it could take a year for her to fully recover.

“I can’t lift things, so I can’t lift my little baby,” she said.

The dogs were Euthanized. Rivers has not spoken to her owner.

She has started an online fundraiser to pay the medical bills.

Rivers says she feels “very blessed… like God has put his arms around all of us.”