Two German Shepherds that viciously attacked two women and their would-be rescuers on First South Street will be euthanized at a veterinarian’s recommendation.

Brookhaven aldermen Tuesday voted unanimously to send notification to the dogs’ owner advising him of the costs of the medicine that will be administered to end their lives as well as the housing fee at the shelter since the attack April 6.

Board attorney Joe Fernald said veterinarian William Kimble determined the dogs were aggressive and pose a threat to the public.

The dogs have been housed at the animal shelter at the city dump since they were captured. Animal control officer Roxanne Norton said the two males are kept in pens away from the other dogs there because they are so aggressive. She said they hit the walls of the pen trying to escape to get to city workers who cut grass there. The workers have said they won’t return until the dogs are gone.

“I’m doing everything I can to keep them in,” she said. “If they get out, it’s over. Somebody’s going to die.”

The dogs jumped the fence of their pen that was about 6 feet tall and escaped April 6. Norton said the owner had received the dogs from his cousin two days earlier and the cousin had placed the dogs in the pen with their leashes still attached.

Fernald said the dogs were spotted nearby by two women who tried to help them, thinking they were lost since they had leashes. The dogs attacked the women, biting at their arms and backs and breaking flesh. Two other women driving by stopped to help, he said.

The dogs attacked one of the women who got out of the car, and when her mother also got out to help they attacked her as well.

A man in a truck stopped when he saw the attack and was able to subdue the dogs. He put the dogs in his truck.

Norton said the dogs likely didn’t attack the man because they had been trained by a male.

“He told them to ‘stay down,’” she said.

Fernald said the owner wanted to save the dogs.

“He would like a middle ground somewhere between setting them free and putting them down,” he said.

Fernald questioned how humane it would be to keep the dogs chained for the rest of their lives or what would happen if they escaped and seriously injured or killed someone.

The city euthanized about nine pitbulls recovered from a dog-fighting operation in 2015, Fernald said.