An American bulldog breeder who was fighting for her life in hospital in Siberia after sustaining horrific injuries when she was attacked by her own dogs has died.

Her four bulldogs reportedly attacked her, even ripping her nose off, and they feasted on her body for hours while her elderly mother was too scared to help.

The victim has been named as dog breeder Larisa Zubkova, 54, and the incident took place in the town of Toguchin in the Russian region of Novosibirsk Oblast region, in Siberia, on the morning of 30th January.

Doctors reportedly battled for five days to save her life after the dogs inflicted serious injuries on the breeder.

Her elderly mother, who has been named as Galina Nikolaevna, said: “We had hoped until the very end that everything would turn out well. Today the doctor called us and said that Larisa had died. My heart stopped. This is a great bereavement for our entire family.”

Larisa had a good relationship with her four bulldogs. However, her friends and family, including her mother, were afraid of the dogs.

Galina, who lives next door to her daughter, heard Larisa’s screams on the morning of 30th January.

She told local media: “At first I thought that she, as usual, yelled at them before their walk, but they didn’t obey her. She made noise for about 15 minutes, and then everything went calm.”

Larisa reportedly lost consciousness at that moment, and the dogs began to maul her jaw, throat, and chest.

Galina added: “An hour later, I heard my daughter screaming ‘help! help!’… I was too afraid to go into her house alone because of the dogs. I called my granddaughter. She arrived an hour later. It turned out that Larisa had been lying there for two hours, bleeding.”

Larisa’s unnamed daughter almost fainted at the sight of her mother lying in the hallway and surrounded by her blood-covered dogs.

According to reports, her nose was bitten off and her throat, jaw and chest were badly injured.

She was taken to the ICU of a nearby hospital and put on a ventilator.

While paramedics were taking the woman to hospital, she said while still conscious that her dog named Bosya, which probably attacked her first, should be removed from the house by the time she returned.

Now, both Bosya and the other bulldogs still live in the house with Larisa’s husband Ivan, with the dogs having to be isolated in different rooms and taken for walks in turns. Veterinarians are also monitoring the animals daily at a safe distance.

It is currently unclear what will happen to the bulldogs, as the decision reportedly rests with the deceased’s relatives. Local media report that, by law, the animals cannot be euthanised and will have to be transferred to a kennel or to other breeders.

Yuri Papanov, chief veterinarian of the Toguchinsky District, said: “These are healthy, vaccinated animals. The breeder was engaged in their training, took them to exhibitions, and carefully monitored their health.

“And even now, we do not observe any aggression or signs of rabies in them. This incident is another reason to remind breeders of their responsibility and readiness to always be extremely careful with such fighting breeds and to not let their guard down.”