CHANDLER, Okla. (KFOR) – A man is recovering at a hospital in Oklahoma City after he was mauled by a pack of wild dogs Wednesday.

“The worst thing I’ve ever seen,” said Lincoln County Sheriff Charlie Dougherty. “As far as a dog injury.”

The 65-year-old man was on a morning walk along a rural stretch of road in Chandler when he was attacked by the wild dogs.

“The dogs come out and get him down and go mauling him,” said Dougherty. “Looks like he’d been out there quite a while. They’d ripped all his clothes off.”

The recently retired man lay on the dirt road for hours with open wounds until a passerby called 911 and reported finding a body. The man was later found to be alive and was flown to OU Health in Oklahoma City to undergo surgery.

“He received injuries pretty much all over his body, with the exception of maybe his neck,” said the sheriff.

Dougherty said the pack of wild dogs came from a marijuana grow operation sandwiching the street. Early in March, deputies and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics busted the grow for selling bud — the smokable part of a cannabis plant — on the “black market” and out of state. The operation had been licensed with the state.

“I don’t know if these dogs was supposed to protect the grow or if they’re just mean dogs altogether,” said Dougherty.

Two of the dogs were caught and taken to a local veterinary clinic. So far, it’s unclear if they’ll be put down.

“The investigators will be looking at trying to bring charges against somebody for some type of restitution for medical and different ones,” said the sheriff. “If you’re going to own dogs, you got to take care of them. You got to be responsible.”

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has been getting calls about more wild dogs in the area. If you know where they are, call the sheriff’s office so deputies can capture them.