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Police Continue Search For Pit Bull In North Merrick Attack; Surveillance Photo Released

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Animal control officers began setting traps for the vicious pit bull still at large after mauling of a woman in North Merrick. Dog food containing meat was left in bowls and placed in the traps outside a library where the latest sightings took place.

On Friday, police used helicopters and patrol cars as they searched for one of the two 90-pound pit bulls that attacked 62-year-old Shashi Sharma on Thursday after she finished up her daily walk.

Sharma made a frantic call to 911 during the attack and when police arrived they shot both dogs – killing one of them. The other escaped into nearby woods and is still on the loose.

The dogs bit her face and head and tore at her arms and legs. Doctors are now trying to save her left arm. She is listed in serious condition in an induced coma at Nassau University Medical Center.

"It was a prolonged and sustained attack-- these dogs are dangerous. Add to that the fact that officers shot and killed one of them and may have wounded the other one. A wounded animal also not something you want to get anyone near," said Detective Lt. Kevin Smith.

Friday afternoon, Nassau County Police released a surveillance photo of the two pit bulls.  Investigators are also zeroing in on the identity of the dogs' owner that roamed from his yard with no collars and no ID chips.

Police have been receiving calls about loose pit bulls in the area and the town is on patrol picking up any strays.

Barbara Box, of North Merrick, and her grandson are frightened by the possibility the dog could attack again.

"It's scary. I saw children riding their bicylces, I saw an elderly woman on one of the streets standing at her side door in her bathrobe. The dog could approach at any moment and attack and maul again," Box told CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan.

"I just hope they catch the dog because I don't want it attacking nobody else," said her grandson Shaqwan Parks.

WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reports

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Police are warning residents to stay indoors and call 911 if they see the animal -- which is considered to be vicious and dangerous. The pit bulls are believed to be the same ones responsible for an attack on a 67-year-old man on Wednesday.

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