NEW MEXICO -- Two dogs are expected to be destroyed after allegedly going on a rampage at New Mexico State University, attacking four dogs, two of which had to be euthanized due to their injuries, according to NMSU Police.
Both dogs were found and turned over to animal control Thursday morning, and NMSU Deputy Chief Stephen Lopez says it is his expectation they will be put down.
The owner is not likely to face charges of having a vicious animal, but could be cited for public nuisance, Lopez said.
Police and animal control officers were called out to a report of two large dogs - a shepherd and a husky mix - attacking pedestrians and animals at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Wells Street and Sweet Avenue.
A crying, shaken woman at the scene said she had been walking her three dachshunds when the other dogs ran up and attacked her dogs, "violently biting" at one and only relenting when other passersby came out to help her, according to the report.
Her 7-year-old dog had "severe injuries ... one of the rear legs was injured and possibly broken or dislocated, and the abdomen of the dog had a large protrusion," the report states.
A man - in a blood-stained white shirt - then arrived at the scene, saying the same dogs "came charging up" and "viciously" attacked one of his dogs at Cervantes Village, "shaking it around like a rag doll" as he was taking them out to relieve themselves.
After striking the attacking dogs with a stick, they left, but his dog had to be euthanized because the attack had left it with severe spinal damage that had paralyzed its hind legs, he told officers.
About 45 minutes after the initial report, police received word that a woman was reporting her two dogs - a brother and sister - had escaped from her McArthur Drive home after "forcibly bumping" her gate, dislodging the latch.
The woman said the dogs weren't normally aggressive, but that they "got into some charcoal" and hadn't been the same since then, the report states. When told about the attacks, the woman "began to cry and stated that she believed that the dogs needed to be put down."
At around 11:40 p.m. that night, another woman reported the dogs had jumped over her wall and attacked her 6-year-old Jack Russell terrier, only stopping when her husband and a neighbor beat them away with a wooden handle. The dog was left with a muddy coat and puncture marks on its shoulder and neck area, the report states.
Due to the further threat of injury to humans and animals, and after hours of multiple officers trying and failing to chase down and corral the dogs as they ran across campus, one officer decided to strike the dogs with his vehicle if he saw them again, to disable them and stop further attacks. One dog was struck, but not run over, but the dog was able to get up and continue to run into campus housing.
The other dog was soon found in a backyard, having been chased in by one of the earlier victims, and its owner agreed to turn over custody of the dog and to call authorities if the other dog returned.
The other dog was subsequently found Thursday morning, according to NMSU police.
(Las Cruces Sun News - Jan 27, 2012)
