HOUSTON -- Classmates of a 4-year-old boy who was mauled by pit bulls learned of his death Monday, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Two dogs attacked Pedro Rios Jr. at a mobile home park in the 8900 block of C.E. King Parkway near Fern Forest Drive at about 1:25 p.m. on Nov. 21.

Officials said Rios and his 2-year-old brother were riding their bikes when the pit bulls attacked. The 2-year-old was not injured.

Rios attended pre-kindergarten classes at Stephanie Cravens Early Childhood Academy, located at 13210 Tidwell. Counselors were brought in to help students and faculty deal with their grief on their first day back from the Thanksgiving holiday vacation.

Students made cards and posters for his family.

"They expressed love to him and in one of them, they wrote, 'We love you,'" teacher Zulema Ray said.

The children learned a difficult lesson.

"Sometimes kids are absent one day or two and it's not a big deal. But when they don't see him day after day, we think they're probably going to start to understand that it's forever," principal Shereen James said.

The dog has been in quarantine since last Tuesday's attack. A second dog involved in the attack was shot and killed at the scene. The surviving dog is scheduled to be euthanized Tuesday.

The owner of the dogs has not come forward. Some of the neighbors said the dogs might have been strays.

The intake number of pit bulls at Harris County Animal Control is up 30 percent in one year, officials said. None of them is adoptable.

"We have seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of pit bulls come into the shelter," said Colleen Hodges with Harris County Animal Control.

Harris County does not have the authority to regulate dangerous dogs, but that could soon change.

Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia wants the county attorney's office to help write a new law that would have to be approved by state lawmakers.

"We would have the authority to capture the dogs, either outlaw them in some way or regulate their breed in some way," Garcia said.

Garcia said she believed the county should also have the authority to prosecute the owners of the dogs.

Any change in county law would first have to be approved by state lawmakers, which could not happen until at least January.