OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) -- The owner of several pit bulls is being charged after his dogs allegedly attacked a 59-year-old who was walking near the dog owner's home in the Sunset area.

Elton James Shelvin, 45, of Opelousas, faces charges of negligent injuring and animals running at large, according to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office.

Shelvin's dogs were allegedly loose when Jonathan Zenon, 59, was walking down Dynasty Lane on the morning of Aug. 31. Five pit bulls allegedly attacked Zenon, who ended up in the hospital with multiple wounds. St. Landry Parish Animal Control confiscated Shelvin's dogs.

“I left my house and walked to the backstreet to have coffee with my sister. It was about 9 o’clock in the morning and when I got halfway down the road I was on the opposite side of the road where the dogs came from,” Zenon told News 10 on Sept. 2. “The female dog came out of the yard barking so I backed up in a friend of mine’s yard then I realized he wasn’t home.” 

He said that the dogs kept advancing, and the other four came out of the yard. When the first dog came out and bit him, the other four jumped on him.

“I really don’t remember what was running through my mind but survival. They threw me down twice, and I just kept trying to keep them from getting to my artery. One of them came and tried to grab me in the neck on the left-hand side,” he said. “I reached out and grabbed her and she caught me on the ear.” 

The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with Zenon’s hospital expenses.