Mum-of-four mauled to death by dogs on road

Ruthie Brown was mauled to death by a pack of dogs. Photo / Supplied

A mother-of-four has been fatally mauled by a pack of dogs while walking.

Ruthie Brown, 36, was discovered dead on Monday afternoon on a country road in the US state of Alabama.

Police say the mother to four boys had suffered "severe trauma" as a result of a dog attack but are yet to formally identify her cause of death, local newspaper the Daily Mountain Eagle reports.

So far no criminal charges have been laid and none of the dogs involved are believed to be strays.

Authorities have captured four out of at least five of the dogs believed to be involved, two of which have been claimed by an owner.

Walker County Sheriff's Office spokesman TJ Armstrong told ABC 3340 a witness had said there was at least seven or eight dogs involved in the attack on Ms Brown.

"I've seen a dog bite, I've seen a dog attack, but I've never seen a situation just as horrible as this," he said.

A neighbour said the dogs were known to be 'very aggressive'. Photo / WKRC

Meanwhile a neighbour said she often saw the "very aggressive" dogs hanging around the area where Brown, who wasn't a local to the area, was mauled.

Robin Johnson said she had once seen the dogs attack a deer and she herself had been confronted by the pack.

"I actually had a stick in my hand which I know the owners name and I would call the owners name and they would back off," she told ABC 3340.

"They're really aggressive dogs. They were very aggressive. If I wouldn't have known the owner's name it probably would have happened to me."

It's not the only heartbreaking dog attack story to emerge out of the United States this year, with an Illinois woman mauled to death by her adopted pet french bulldog in May.

Lisa Urso, 52, was found dead on the back veranda of her home with extensive bite and scratch marks.

Police believe Urso was attacked inside her home and escaped outside, only to succumb to her injuries.

Lisa Urso was killed by her pet french bulldog (not pictured) in May. Photo / Facebook

Fox Lake Police Chief Jimmy Lee told The Chicago Tribune the scene had been "gruesome", with blood on Urso's dogs, two which were french bulldogs while the other was a border collie mix.

It's believed only one of the dogs, a french bulldog named Blue who had been a rescue dog after previously being used in a dog fighting ring, was responsible for the attack.

Lake County Coroner Dr Howard Cooper told People Urso had died with "a very large percentage of her body" injured and her clothes shredded and torn off.