An elderly Prairie County man is recovering following an attack by three of his neighbor’s dogs.

The attack happened Thursday as the 77-year-old Hazen man went to get his newspaper. C.S. Sample--affectionately known to family and friends as "Bud"--is being treated at a Little Rock hospital following the early-morning attack.

Sample was just steps away from his front door when, authorities say, he was mauled by the animals.

(Sgt. Ken Culbreath, Prairie County Sheriff's Dept.) "He was bitten all over. Had serious bites on his left leg, had abrasions. I call it gnaw marks, where the dogs had bitten and chewed on him on his arms, forearms. And his hands also were chewed and bitten."
Sergeant Culbreath says there was evidence Sample tried to fight off the dogs, but eventually succumbed as the two pit bull mixes--and a chocolate lab--overpowered him.

Sample had been in his driveway for more than an hour before a relative passed by and found him incapacitated.

(Culbreath) “He pulled a crowbar from a tool box and fended the dogs off. It's my understanding the dogs had ripped most of the gentleman's clothing off in the process."
After being treated at an area hospital, Sample was then transported to UAMS in Little Rock, where at last check was listed in stable condition.

As for the dogs, authorities took them at the owner’s request.

(Culbreath) "The dogs were taken the veterinarian clinic in Hazen, where they were then euthanized--put to sleep--and will be will be tested for rabies.”
Prairie County does not have a vicious dog ordinance.

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