Mom Forced to Stab Family Pet to Death as 2 Dogs Attacked Her Baby: 'My Daughter Was Going to Die'

"It was either him or my daughter and I chose my daughter," Jamie Morales said of fatally stabbing one of her family's pit bulls that attacked her 1-year-old daughter

A California mother took drastic measures to save her 1-year-old daughter as she was attacked by the family's pit bulls.

Jamie Morales of Pico Rivera stabbed the pit bulls that mauled her daughter around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, per KTLA. During the incident, a 3-year-old dog tackled the baby, identified by her family as Ruby Cervantes, before the second pit bull came in and also attacked the child.

The family all rushed to try to pull the dogs off little Ruby.

"I walked into the kitchen and that's when I (saw)...my two daughters and my son on the floor trying to get the dogs off. Finally, my daughter got up...and that's when I (saw) my granddaughter," Ruby's grandmother Margaret Morales told ABC 7. "I (saw) the dog was latched on her left leg. That's when I had to actually get my hand into his jaws and open them up and that's when he released her."

"He had her by the leg and I had to get his teeth off of her," Margaret also told KTLA, adding, "He bit my hand and my hand's pretty severely cut open."

Jamie, who suffered facial injuries during the attack, grabbed a knife and stabbed the dogs. One of them died.

"I had to stab the dog … I had to," she told KTLA. "It was either him or my daughter and I chose my daughter."

Mother Forced to Stab Family Dogs to Death As They Attack Her Baby

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Ruby suffered dog bites to her face and her body. She received treatment at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, where she will have surgery. Her aunt was also injured in the attack, KTLA reports.

"Like many others this morning I was horrified and dismayed at the news of the unprovoked attack on a one year child by a family's pit bulls," Pico Rivera Mayor Monica Sanchez said in a statement, according to KTLA. "I'd like to extend our deepest condolences to the family and best wishes for a swift recovery for the child and injured members of the family."

Mayor Sanchez did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arrived at the scene and said the pit bulls mauled Ruby after she began to cry, per ABC 7.

The department's Pico Rivera Station did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Margaret had owned the dogs, who came from the same litter, since they were puppies, NBC Los Angeles said. They were let in the home after having a bath.

"I thought my daughter was going to die," Jamie told the outlet.

"But she's strong," Margaret added.

The dog that survived will be taken to animal control and will be euthanized, per NBC Los Angeles.