SEATAC, Wash. -- "Attempted murder" is what Eric John Makus calls it.

Seventy one-year-old Huong Le was mauled by two pit bulls on Monday morning and left in dire condition.

A neighbor went out to get his newspaper Monday morning just after 8:15 when he noticed the dogs tugging on what he thought was a rag. When he got closer, he found they were attacking the woman. He tried using a pitchfork on the dogs, but they would not let go, so he called 911.

Nearby King County deputies rushed over and found two white pit bulls on top of the woman, who was underneath the porch landing to the home.

Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart said the dogs were pulling and tugging on the woman, and there was a large amount of blood. As the officer approached, one of the dogs looked up and his mouth was covered in blood.

As the dogs moved away from the woman, officers shot and killed them.

Le spent ten hours emergency surgery on Monday, but remains in guarded condition at Harborview Medical Center.

Calling the attack savage, Makus said the dogs went after Le's head, wrist, arm and legs. They attacked her so badly, he said, that she suffered a fractured jaw and has staples holding her wounds together.

"This was an attempted murder," he said. "They were going to kill her."

Investigators are not sure what sparked the attack. Neighbors said Le was at the bus stop with her niece and nephew a few minutes before the attack.

But Makus said Le, a Vietnamese immigrant whom he considers his adoptive mom, couldn't have provoked such violence.

"She's the sweetest little lady in the whole wide world. It's just unthinkable," he said.

Claiming pit bulls' vicious instincts cannot be curbed, Makus said the breed should be banned as muzzles and ordinances have proven to be insufficient.

In SeaTac, there is an ordinance specifically designed for pit bulls that says they have to be contained. In fact, at certain times, they actually have to be muzzled.

The dog owner's son says the dogs have never been a problem.

"They've never been aggressive towards anybody that's ever came over here," said T.J. Cunningham. "Like if you guys were to walk in right now, they wouldn't attack or anything, they'd lick your face off."

He said his family still doesn't know how the dogs got out. They had been locked in the home when they all left for school and work that morning.

Animal control officers say there were no prior complaints about the dogs. However, they are working with the sheriff's department and the dogs' owner could be facing charges.

Whatever happens, Makus said Le is extremely grateful to the deputies who came to her rescue.