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SAN FRANCISCO – An 11-year-old boy was severely mauled by a neighbor’s pit bull, an attack that came just a day after a 5-year-old Monterey girl died after being attacked by her family dog. 

The boy was taken to Marshall Hospital in Placerville for surgery and was listed serious condition Sunday. The boy’s family requested that the his identity not be published. 

In all, three children in Northern California were viciously attacked by dogs since Thursday. 

While the spotlight case of the fatal dog attack on San Francisco’s Diane Whipple recently drew to a close with a jury’s guilty verdict, the vicious dog attacks continue. 

The Placerville attack occurred late Saturday as the boy went to a neighbor’s home to seek advice on caring for his own dog, according to Lt. Kevin House of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. 

After no one answered the door, the dog came around from the side of the house and attacked him. 

“The dog chased him down and pulled him down by the leg and started chewing on him,” House said. 

“When the dog attacked him he screamed for his mother. She was able to get the dog off of him by kicking it,” House said. “As the mother was carrying him into the house the dog jumped on him again.” 

The mother began kicking the dog again until it finally released. The boy suffered serious bite wounds to the head, face, back and torso. 

Animal control officers later found the dog, which became aggressive toward them. Authorities then shot and killed the dog at the scene. 

The keeper of the pit bull works at a veterinarian hospital, House said. Authorities were not able to locate her Saturday night or Sunday morning to interview her about the attack. 

House said he expects to forward a recommendation for criminal prosecution to the county district attorney’s office on Monday or Tuesday. He said neighbors have reported the same dog chasing them into their homes in that unincorporated area of Placerville, called Pollock Pines. 

Saturday’s attack was the third vicious dog attack on a child in Northern California in as many days. 

The 5-year-old Monterey girl had been walking with her grandmother and brother in a field when a lizard startled them Friday afternoon. In the commotion, at least one of the family’s two large Rottweilers pounced, biting her head and body, police spokesman Randy Taylor said. 

She was immediately taken to the hospital, but died later Friday night. 

That mauling came less than 24 hours after a 5-year-old Salinas girl was attacked by her family’s Doberman pinscher. That girl was mauled so severely Thursday that part of her scalp was pulled from her skull, which the dog also fractured. 

She was admitted to the intensive care unit at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Thursday in critical condition, but by Sunday was stable and in good condition, according to a hospital nursing supervisor. 

The Monterey County dogs involved in attacks were all impounded.