ROME -- A pack of stray dogs have killed two people, and attacked two more, while Italian authorities struggle to reign in the wild animals.

A 24-year-old German tourist and a 10-year-old boy were both attacked last week. The German woman remains in critical condition, while the little boy, of Italy, died after the dogs pulled him off his bike and viciously mauled him.

Earlier last week, in two separate incidents, the dogs bit, but did not kill, a 9-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man.

Without sufficient public kennel facilities or animal control services, the town of Sicily turned to a local resident to provide for and properly restrain the pack. Now the 64-year-old man is being charged with manslaughter allegations, following the death of the young boy.

Francesa Martini, Italy's welfare undersecretary, told the UK Telegraph that wild dogs are "an extremely serious problem" in the region and called for an emergency meeting with officials in Sicily.

After the German woman was mauled on Tuesday, March 17, police evacuated beaches along southern Sicily and used helicopters to spot the stray animals; around 40 dogs were captured near Ragusa, and authorities also killed two other strays.

''They were tearing her apart and they would have killed her if people hadn't intervened,'' one eye witness told ANSA News. ''There were a dozen or so mostly small-sized dogs in the pack and they were very aggressive."

The woman, whose face, arms and legs were reportedly attacked, was taken to a hospital in Cantina, where she underwent surgery last week.

"Her face was particularly disfigured," one rescue official, Christian Ilardi, told The Associated Press. "Her life is in serious danger due to the wounds, which are very deep."

It is unclear if the dogs have had any vaccines; they are suspected, however, to have been kept in poor conditions. Aside from being charged with manslaughter, the dogs' former owner is also being accused of keeping them in an unsanitary environment with little food.

The dogs first demonstrated their potential to harm when they killed 10-year-old Giuseppe Brafa on Sunday, March 15. The young boy, of nearby town Modica, was riding his bicycle when the dogs surrounded him and pulled him off his bike, according to the BBC.

Nearly 7,000 people attended the boy's funeral last week.

Authorities estimate that nearly 50 dogs constitute the wild stray pack, but there are approximated to be nearly 450,000 stray dogs in Italy, mostly congregated in the south of the country, according to the Associated for the Defense of Animals and the Environment. That region is the country's most popular destination for tourists.

Those dogs are "systematically ignore[d]" by the 1,600 towns near Sicily, said ADAE leader Lorenzo Croce. Though Italian laws call for municipalities to round up strays and confine them in kennel facilities, the money is simply not there, Italian media outlets have reported.

Meanwhile, animal protection society ENPA said it would take action against anyone who killed the dogs, according to ANSA. Another animal rights and welfare organization, LAV, called on the government to make sterilization mandatory for all dogs in Italy, according to ANSA.