It happened on Tait Avenue in Greece around 5:30 p.m. according to neighbors, who rushed to help the woman and her dogs.
That woman suffered severe injuries to her hand that may require surgery and one of her dogs remains in the animal hospital receiving round-the-clock care. Her other dog suffered minor injuries.
"She is so full of life and so playful, look she still gives kisses, but you can definitely tell there's a difference in her attitude right now," Nancy Kliss said of her six-year-old greyhound Vixen who misses nine-year-old Dasher.
Dasher is well-known throughout the Kliss’ neighborhood and his injuries are considered life-threatening according to authorities.
"When we talked to the vet last they were still cleaning his wounds trying to assess the damage and how deep they were," Kliss said of Dasher’s condition. "They did say that he has multiple puncture wounds and they're not sure if he needs surgery or not but he has wounds on his legs, underbelly, his neck."
According to police and neighbors, Kliss was on her routine walk with Dasher and Vixen when three pit bull mix dogs raced from their property and began to attack; their primary target appeared to be Dasher.
"I wouldn't even call it a fight it was more like a mauling it was just so vicious," Eric Eagan, one of the first neighbors to rush to their aid said. "When I got there all three pit bulls were locked on to three different parts of Dasher; one by the throat, one by the stomach, and one by the hindquarters and they were all pulling in separate directions."
Eagan, with some help from the pit bull’s owner and others, managed to pull the dogs off of Dasher and Kliss. Police and medics were called to the scene as was Greece Animal Control Officer Brian Hondorf.
"Dogs are animals, dogs are individuals just like people are, they all have different personalities; but they do get protective of their property so it is up to that dog owner to take any and all steps that they need to do to make sure their dog stays safely contained on their own property," Greece Animal Control Officer Peter Braggins explained.
Braggins and Hondorf both tell 13WHAM News that the owner of the pit bull mix dogs was cooperative and immediately agreed to surrender the dogs to the Town of Greece. They will be evaluated for ten days and then euthanized as standard procedure dictates in cases like this.
[Here we go again. The owner gets to simply wash his/her hands of responsibility and surrender the dogs to be put down. There is NOTHING to prevent him/her from going out and immediately replacing those dogs with similar dogs.]
The owner of the dogs is expected to face charges in violation of the town’s animal ordinance. In this case, according to Braggins, the owner will face three charges for each of his three dogs. One charge related to failing to control or contain the dog to his property, the second relates to injuries Dasher and Vixen suffered, and the third relates to injuries Kliss suffered.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of a $500 fine as well as the possibility of court-ordered restitution for medical and veterinary bills incurred by victims. The Kliss family says they have already pad nearly $3,000 for Dasher’s care in the first 24 hours.
"It's a dramatic thing to go through, it's tough to watch your dog lying on the ground being attacked and there's nothing you can do about it," Nancy Kliss said. "I always say I don't expect you to care about my dog but care about your own."
"Yeah (I’m) very upset," Jeff Kliss, Nancy’s husband said. "This shouldn't have had to happen at all. These dogs should have been taken care of better, it's definitely on their owners; it is their fault."
13WHAM made efforts to contact the owner of the pit bull mix dogs but was unsuccessful on Friday.
Eric Eagan and his wife have organized other neighbors to host an event this Sunday in the neighborhood. They are calling it "Dash for Dasher" and the money raised from the run-walk will go to the Kliss family to help with medical and veterinary bills.
(WHAM - June 1, 2012)
