McKinley County animal control officials reported that there have been five or six cases of children being bitten by wild dogs in just the past month, The Gallup Independent reported.

And animal control officer Romie Calderon told the Independent that his office receives almost daily reports of wild dogs in some part of the county.

The problem of wild dogs has been growing rapidly in many parts of McKinley County as well as on the Navajo Nation, where two years ago tribal animal control officers said wild and feral dogs could be found on every part of the reservation, the Independent reported.

In addition to reports of wild dogs killing sheep, goats, calves and pets on the reservation, tribal officials say there are dozens of cases each year of children being treated for dog bites, many after coming into contact with wild dogs that stray into small Navajo communities looking for food, the paper said.

Calderon said one problem county animal control officers face is when they investigate reports of dog packs, the dogs have moved on to Navajo Nation land where they have no jurisdiction, the Independent said.

And the Navajo Nation has just a handful of animal control officers to patrol an area the size of West Virginia, the paper reported.

But McKinley County and the Navajo Nation aren't alone in facing the problem, the Independent said.

National Geographic magazine has reported that the United States is facing a "feral dog crisis" with packs of wild dogs roaming low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, even Santa Fe.

It is so bad in some parts of Detroit that the postmaster has threatened to stop delivering mail in some areas until the dog problem is solved, the Independent reported. 

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