Man fights off wild dogs, runs to get help for 7-year-old in Shamattawa

The Shamattawa man who fought off a pack of wild dogs attacking a seven-year-old says he's grateful he was there to help.

"I'm just happy she's still alive," said Kirk Miles, who lives in the First Nation community about 750 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

On Thursday afternoon, Miles said he was walking to the local airport to pay for a family member's ticket. That's when he heard screaming.

"You know when a dog attacks a cat — it sounded like that. So I stopped and I started listening some more and it sounded different, so I went to check it out," said Miles.

"That's when I saw a little girl getting pulled by a bunch of dogs."

The dogs were big, and there were about six or seven of them, but Miles said he immediately ran to fight them and get them off the girl.

"I just grabbed a log and scared those dogs away. They took off for a while, then stopped. It seemed like they were getting ready to attack me again, but I scared them off," said Miles.

"I started looking around and I saw one person and yelled at them to come and help me. He came towards me and scared those dogs away, too. We started yelling for help."

Miles said the girl is his common-law partner's cousin, so he knew where she lived. He ran to the house to get help.

Once help came, Miles said he left.

"I couldn't stay long. I was in shock. I just took off from there."

RCMP said the girl had serious injuries and was sent to Winnipeg for medical treatment. She's still in hospital. 

Shamattawa Chief Eric Redhead has been in touch with the girl's mother.

"This child was in very bad shape when she left the community," he said.