But that grisly resolution to two separate dog attacks is no comfort to Cynthia Allds, whose seven pound toy poodle Garrigan died in the second attack.
"He didn't have a chance," Allds said last week.
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| A banner the dog owner posted in her yard. |
Allds suffered a bite on a finger and a jammed hip when she tried to intervene in the melee that ensued when three dogs entered her yard at 404 W. Liberty St.
"I knew what they had done to [another victim], but I wasn't going to let them shred my dog," Allds said.
The same dogs attacked March 31, according to the report of the New Lisbon Police Department. The victim in that attack declined to comment for this report and asked that her name and other identifying information be withheld.
According to the police report, the trouble began March 31 when three dogs owned by April Decker, 508 W. Court St., attacked a woman's dog outside her residence in the 500 block of South Washington Street.
The victim told a police officer that she was walking her dog at about 9 a.m. on Washington Street, which intersects with West Court Street, when she saw two black dogs and a third, smaller, white dog approaching.
The black dogs attacked her dog and one of the three dogs bit her, the woman said. New Lisbon First Responders and a Camp Douglas ambulance responded to the scene, according to the police report. The woman was treated at Hess Memorial Hospital for a cut to a finger that needed 11 stitches to close. Her dog suffered bite wounds.
New Lisbon Police Chief Brent Granger said that, because the dogs could not immediately be located, he alerted New Lisbon schools and several daycare centers to keep children indoors. "It was just a precautionary measure," Granger said.
The attacking dogs were later located in the 500 block of South Forest Street and returned to Decker's home without incident, according to the police report.
Because of uncertainty about which dog had bitten the woman, police issued three animal bite orders to Decker, who was also cited and fined $200.50 for dogs running at large, an ordinance violation.
A bite order requires that dog owners quarantine dogs for 10 days and provide proof within 24 hours that dogs have been vaccinated against rabies, according to copies of the orders provided by police. According to the records, Decker complied and provided proof that all three dogs had been recently vaccinated. The dogs were also legally licensed, according to police records.
Then, at 5:40 p.m. on April 12, a police officer was called to Allds' home at 404 W. Liberty St.
According to the police report, Allds told the investigating officer that she had been outside her home with her toy poodle when two Rottweilers and a small white dog entered her yard.
One of the Rottweilers picked the toy poodle up in its mouth and repeatedly bit it, Allds said. A male person arrived, collected the three dogs and drove away, Allds told police. The toy poodle died immediately of its injuries.
Police determined that the three dogs that entered Allds' yard were the same three involved in the March 31 attack.
According to the police report, Decker was to be issued eight citations totalling $2,108 for the second attack, though some or all of the citations would be dismissed if Decker cooperated promptly with an order to euthanize two of the dogs - the Rottweiler mixes.
On April 18, four days before the dogs were to be euthanized, the front yard of the home at 508 W. Court St. displayed a banner protesting the order to euthanize the dogs and two mock graves. A woman who answered the door identified herself as April but declined to give a last name.
"I feel horrible about it," the woman said. "My kids are grieving, too, and I take responsibility for that."
The woman said she was "very remorseful" and said she hoped Allds would contact her so she could apologize.
Allds said she did not think contacting Decker was her duty. "I guess I didn't feel I should go seeking an apology," she said.
Allds said she acquired Garrigan when he was a puppy about four years ago, shortly after the death of her husband. Like any dog owner, she always knew the day would come when she would have to bury her pet.
"But I would never, ever have thought it would happen this way," Allds said.
(Star Times - April 27, 2011)
