"More than five" dogs mauled the woman near her home on Monday afternoon, chief Jacob Molitor said. A Facebook post from the department described the incident as a "vicious dog attack" that took place near Springs Road, a short roadway that connects with Meskwaki Road near the settlement's tribal center.
Authorities had not released the age or identity of the woman as of Tuesday afternoon.
"It's horrific." said Molitor, who declined to name the breeds involved but said the dogs were located and destroyed Monday. "Everybody at the police department knew this woman."
The Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, or Meskwaki Nation, which has about 1,400 enrolled tribal members, is the only federally recognized tribe in Iowa and privately owns more than 8,000 acres of land in Tama County. The unincorporated settlement is located about 3 miles northwest of Tama and about 65 miles northeast of Des Moines.
While some dogs are kept as pets on the settlement, others are left to roam free, according to Molitor, who said his department had received some complaints recently about free-roaming dogs.
"There is a cultural tie to dogs," Molitor said. "It's just kind of hard (for non-residents) to understand. Nobody saw this coming."
Settlement leaders canceled Wednesday's scheduled meeting of the Tribal Council, due to the death.
The police department said in a Facebook post Tuesday that mental health therapists from the Meskwaki Health Clinic are available for community members experiencing mental or emotional strains because of the attack; they can be reached at (641) 484-9400. Elevate, a crisis team from Waterloo, is also offering its services and can be reached at (855) 581-8111.
Fatal dog attacks in Iowa
This is the sixth fatal dog attack in Iowa since 2010, according to Texas nonprofit dogsbite.org, which tracks news reports of dog-bite-related fatalities and supports restrictive dog ordinances, and first since 2019.
Robert Joseph Quick of Dallas City, Illinois, was at a Fort Madison home in May 2019 when a dog attacked his daughters. Quick, 33, reportedly had a fatal heart attack after being mauled when he intervened.
According to dogsbite.org, 51 people were killed in dog attacks in 2021, although the group says on its website that last year's incidents are still being reviewed, and there were 46 fatal dog attacks in 2020.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter