An Arizona woman says she was mauled by a pit bull that she had rescued and nurtured to health for many years.

Enza Piazza told KVOA-TV that she had brought the pit bull, named Baby Girl, into her home in 2020.

'I had a collapsed lung, I had already lost two pints of blood.'

Late last year, the dog became violent and dangerous without provocation, according to Piazza.

"She rag-dolled me back and forth," Piazza recalled. "I couldn't gasp for air, and that very moment, I had no idea I had a collapsed lung, I had already lost two pints of blood."

She said that she believed she was going to die because the dog, who weighed about 90 pounds, was overpowering her.

"She was literally on top of me, and going for my arms, and just taking flesh, back and forth," she added.

Piazza called for help from her daughter Nina and told her to get a gun.

"My mom reminded me of the gun that we had and she said, 'Go get it,' and I said, 'Are you sure?' because I didn't want to do that," said the daughter.

She then shot the dog once.

"She started turning around, and my mom said, 'Do it one more time' so I did it one more time and she was still moving so I did it another time, and that's when she laid down," Nina added.

'I rescued her; I would've never hurt her.'

Piazza says that she has faced some criticism for putting down the dog in the way they did but says she had no choice.

"There was no controlling the situation at all, and I would've never hurt her ever," she added. "I rescued her; I would've never hurt her."

The woman says she has had three surgeries and continuous therapy over the incident. She also suffers from nightmares and flashbacks.

Some government officials have called for a ban of pit bulls owing to the numerous incidents during which members of the species have attacked humans — sometimes lethally so. Defenders of the species say the owners are to blame and the animals should not be punished for bad decisions made by their human owners.

In one horrifying incident from February, a man was mauled and killed by his pit bulls that he was breeding at his Compton home. Police had to euthanize the 13 dogs.

The video of Piazza's interview with KVOA can be viewed at the station's channel on YouTube.

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