TERRACE BAY — OPP say two youths were injured in an incident involving multiple dogs in the yard of a Terrace Bay home on Saturday.
Police describe some of the injuries as "serious and life-altering."
One of the children was reportedly airlifted to a London, Ont., hospital for plastic surgery.
Superior North EMS said its paramedics initially treated three patients at the scene, including one with numerous wounds.
Police have not disclosed the circumstances of the incident, but sources in Terrace Bay said the youngsters were playing on a trampoline in the back yard when one of them fell off and was attacked by a pet.
A local resident who intervened to help the children's mother rescue the children said the experience left him badly shaken.
Sylvain Tessier said he was outside chatting with an acquaintance just before 3 p.m. Saturday when they started hearing dogs barking, followed soon after by a child yelling.
At first he thought there might be a bear in the neighbourhood, but when the commotion continued, he felt he should investigate.
Tessier said he got into his vehicle and drove with his window rolled down so he could follow the noise, until he arrived at a home with a five-foot fence around the yard.
When he peered over the fence, he saw a woman on the ground beneath a trampoline frantically trying to protect a young boy who was being mauled.
Shouting at a neighbour to call 911, Tessier jumped the fence and quickly found himself under attack.
"The biggest one was so focused on me and was foaming at the mouth. I was kicking to try to protect myself ... I've never seen a dog so enraged. I'm not going to lie, I was scared. I was starting to get out of breath."
He said he picked up a piece of two-by-four to defend himself and to try to get the dogs out from under the trampoline, but a smaller one then jumped onto the trampoline and went after the second child.
Tessier was able to retrieve him and hand him over the fence to a neighbour, by which time the children's mother had the other boy out from under the trampoline and was holding him tightly.
"I looked back and she had him pulled away from those dogs. She just told me to grab him, and I took him inside the house and shut that patio door. He was mauled pretty badly."
He said the woman had been relentless in her efforts to rescue the child.
Tessier, who became emotional as he described what he witnessed, believes he was in the yard for about 10 minutes before the incident ended but "it seemed like an eternity."
OPP have not disclosed who owns the dogs, their breed, or what's been done with them since the attack.
However a police spokesperson stated Wednesday that "there is no further threat to public safety."