TEXAS CITY — Two women were recovering Tuesday from an early morning attack by three pit bulls, the owner of which had been cited before for allowing them to roam the neighborhood.

The women’s injuries didn’t appear life-threatening, but the animals were euthanized, said George Fuller, director of the city’s Community Development Department.

Michelle Reiter said she was in her living room reading about 5:15 a.m. when she heard the faint voice of a woman outside her home in the 200 block of South Texas Street.

“She was hollering a man’s name over and over again,” Reiter said. “It was not really loud. She was an older lady.”

Sgt. Joe Stanton of Texas City police said Reiter’s neighbor, Minnie Davis, 76, suffered severe lacerations to her legs.

“She was basically taking the trash out and had to crawl all the way back to the house to get away from them,” Stanton said.

“Reiter came outside ... then the dogs turned on her,” Stanton said.

Reiter said she saw some objects moving around on the ground close to Davis and then saw her neighbor go inside her home.

“It was almost completely dark,” said Reiter. Then when I got to my driveway, they charged me and started biting me. They got me pretty good.”

Davis remained in fair condition Tuesday afternoon at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, a hospital spokesman said.

Reiter said she suffered bites to her ankle and knee and characterized her mental state as pretty shaken. She spoke to The Daily News while recovering at home, following her release from Mainland Medical Center.

Reiter, who said she owns a friendly pit bull and has reared the breed, said she had never been attacked by a dog before, even ones that were unfriendly and known to bite.

“I started yelling, ‘Get out of here!’’’ she said. “I knew not to run away. I was standing there trying not to be scared, but that’s hard when they came out of the dark.”

Reiter said she continued to yell at the dogs and throw rocks at them until they left her yard.

Fuller said the dogs’ owner received six citations, three accusing him of allowing the dogs to run at-large, and three for attitude to attack.

The attitude to attack citations are $500 each, Fuller said, and the running at large fees are set by a judge, usually between $150 to $500 each, he said.

Fuller said the owner, who is the injured women’s neighbor, chose to have the dogs euthanized rather than pay for their quarantine.

The animals had rabies shots and tags, Fuller said, because the owner had been cited within the past year for allowing two of the pit bulls to run at large.

The animals’ carcasses will be tested for rabies, Fuller said.

The city’s animal control officers will change their work schedules to patrol the city at anytime, Fuller said.

“Generally we don’t have a patrol that early, but we’re going to alternate shifts, because animals like to scrounge through trash early,” Fuller said.

Texas City has a zero-tolerance policy toward pit bulls allowed to roam, Fuller said, noting the city would no longer give owners of that breed warnings.

“You can’t blame the breed because it’s not the dogs’ fault,” Fuller said.

“Ninety percent of the time it’s the owners’ fault.”