Warning: Article contains graphic details.
The family of a toddler mauled by a pack of dogs said they thought she wouldn't survive the horrific attack.
Two-year-old Ella was with her family having a picnic at her aunt's house, in Liverpool, England when five dogs burst through onto the property from a neighbouring house.
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"There was this big bang," Ella's aunt Sandra McKevitt told the recently aired BBC show Defenders UK. "Through the fence, I just saw this big dog's head. It was growling and it looked so vicious. I could see its eyes were wild and I thought 'we are going to have to move quick'."
McKevitt said she yelled at the children in the yard to run inside, but as they were doing so the dogs cornered Ella and started attacking her.
"They were just tearing away at her like she was just a piece of meat," she said.
As the American bully dogs, similar to pit bull terriers, continued to maul the girl, McKevitt said she started punching and screaming at the animals to try and get Ella away from them.
"She was just screaming for her mum and dad and I remember thinking 'please God just let us get out of here."
Later in the hospital, McKevitt said the girl's parents were "absolutely distraught".
"Her poor face [was] all swollen, stitches everywhere. Your heart just broke," she said.
According to News.com.au, Ella remained in hospital for three-and-a-half weeks and had to undergo 12 hours of surgery. She suffered permanent scarring and loss of feeling in her lips and mouth.
The dog's owner, Andrew McGowan, was sentenced to 18 months in jail and banned from keeping dogs for 12 years, reported Metro.co.uk. Four of the dogs had been put down following the attack.
Newshub.
