Saudi American dies after dog attack near home in New Mexico

CHICAGO/JEDDAH: Saudi-American Saad Al-Anazi, 56, died the day after he was attacked by a neighbor’s two dogs outside his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Jan. 27, family members told Arab News on Tuesday.

Las Cruces is located a few miles northwest of El Paso in New Mexico, which has a small Arab-American population.

Witnesses told police that they saw father-of-three Al-Anazi lying on the street, yelling for help and bleeding from his thigh as two large dogs were barking and biting him.

According to media reports, neighbor Rudy Clark rushed out of his home and hit one of the dogs several times on the head with a cane, eventually forcing the dogs to retreat.

Clark told police that the attack seemed to go on for almost 20 minutes before he was able to get the dogs to back down.

Al-Anazi was taken to Mountain View Regional Medical Center by paramedics who were called to the scene after neighbors called the 911 emergency number.

Family members said Al-Anazi died at the hospital on Jan. 28 due to major blood loss. The two dogs, German shepherds, were taken into custody by Doña Ana County animal control.

Al-Anazi’s daughter Farah was at home preparing to go to sleep when the attack happened. She later posted a photo of herself and her father, as well as several tributes to him, on her Facebook page.

“I’ll love you forever dad,” she wrote last week. “I love you and will see you in heaven, Baba!”

Al-Anazi’s brother Saud told Al Arabiya TV that he has asked the Saudi Embassy to investigate the matter. 

He told Arab News that the family decided to bury Al-Anazi in a Muslim cemetery in the US rather than risk a transfer to Saudi Arabia taking too long. Saud said his brother had a good reputation and got on well with his neighbors.

He added that the dogs’ owner denied that she had released them, and faces the charge of possessing dogs without controlling them.