Overview
- The victim, 27-year-old Arancha G., was attacked while walking rural paths and suffered more than 100 bite wounds on October 24, 2023, with the court recording death by traumatic hemorrhagic shock.
- The Penal Court in Zamora convicted shepherd Pedro Gago of homicide by gross negligence on June 2, 2026, and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.
- Judges ordered a €250,000 civil indemnity to Arancha's family and will deduct the defendant's provisional detention from February 14 to March 5, 2024, from the imposed term.
- The sentence records that the pack of seven dogs — three mastines, two careas and two pups — were kept isolated, underfed, uninsured and allowed to roam outside the herd enclosure, creating the conditions for the attack.
- Guardia Civil testimony that officers and family members could not rescue Arancha and that the animals blocked access led to the dogs being seized by a municipal centre and later euthanized, and the ruling may increase scrutiny of how livestock-guarding dogs are kept and supervised.