UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Numerous residents who were traveling along the Memorial Parkway in Utica on Thursday afternoon said they witnessed a horrific incident, one that they say happened in front of elementary school children.

According to witnesses who were on the Parkway Thursday afternoon, some time between 2 and 3 p.m. on Thursday, two pit bulls chased a deer from the grass area near the Utica Zoo, down into the middle of the roadway of the parkway, brutally attacking it in front of numerous drivers and residents.

One witness, who works as a nurse, said that she has seen some horrendous sights in her time, but has never witnessed anything as brutal, graphic, and horrific as what she saw on Wednesday.

Still in disbelief, she described seeing the deer, scared and confused, already suffering from an initial attack by the dogs, get chased out into the roadway, with pieces of its body actually torn off.

She, and other witnesses all described see the pair of pit bull dogs continue to viciously attack the deer, eating parts of it while it was still alive.

It was during this attack that witnesses say school buses arrived and began letting elementary school students off into the parkway neighborhoods. Many of the kids said that they recognized the dogs, often seen running loose throughout the area.

One witness said that staff from the nearby Utica Zoo came running down to the scene, where they sedated the suffering deer in order to take it back to the zoo and euthanize it.

Police were on the scene, but residents and witnesses said they were fearful not only after having seen such an incident, but were concerned about the dogs, which were believed to still be on the loose and not located.

Utica Police said officers on scene were not able to locate the dogs and they were last seen on the Parkway, between Miller and Seymour Ave.

One is described as a gray dog and the other as a brindle.

If you have any information on the dogs, please call animal control at 315-735-3301.