7-year-old girl severely injured in dog attack

A 7-year-old Minnesota girl is recovering after she was attacked by a group of dogs while walking home from school last week.

Sumaya Farah Ali had just gotten off the school bus and was walking through her St. Paul neighborhood with her mother on Thursday afternoon when about five dogs descended on the pair, KARE 11 reported.

Sumaya’s mother fought off the dogs for several minutes before a passerby managed to scare them away – but not before Sumaya suffered injuries to her face, ear, and leg.

“I looked at the little girl and saw blood on her face. That’s when I realized what my son was talking about,” neighbor John Albert said of the moment his own 13-year-old son came home and said there was a large group of dogs outside.

Normally, Sumaya’s mother, Sacadiya, would have been walking home with both Sumaya and her sister, Munira, the family told the outlet.

Last week, however, Munira, was in the hospital recovering from surgery for a heart defect, they explained.

Sumaya, Munira, their mother, and her sisters and brothers had only arrived in St. Paul four months ago, so that Munira could have her operation, the family’s GoFundMe said.

“She doesn’t think she could have been able to save both of them…She doesn’t know how she’s going to be able to live with these dogs if they’re not caught,” Sumaya’s sibling Abdiaziz Ahmed told KARE11 of their sister and stepmother’s ordeal.

“Sumaya was injured and had pieces of nose, ear, and thigh bitten off. The doctors were able to stitch together the best they could,” the GoFundMe explained.

Photos on the fundraiser page show Sumaya lying down with stitches and bandages over her nose and part of her ear, with one eye swollen shut.

The family is now trying to raise $35,000 in order to see a plastic surgeon who could perhaps reduce the little girl’s scarring.

All five dogs involved in the attack have been surrendered to the St. Paul Animal Control and the owner is cooperating with authorities, KARE11 said.

On Sunday, Sumaya’s loved ones shared that she was out of the hospital and that her swelling was going down. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, the GoFundMe had raised close to $34,000.