The escaped pit-bull attacked the five-pound Bichon-Frise while the dog and the family who owned him were walking home from Milton A. Votee Park, police said Friday.
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| RIP Melo |
Cori Adams, the owner of the Bichon Frise-and-poodle mix, said the pit-bull escaped from its owner, ran across Queen Anne Road, and headed toward her family, including her daughter, Madi, 5.
“He knew what he was doing,” an upset Adams said Friday. “He went for his neck and he didn’t let go until he saw blood.”
The incident occurred around 8 p.m., after the pit-bull, which was originally on a leash, somehow escaped from his owner, Sgt. Patrick Forrest of the Teaneck Police Department said Friday.
Two township officers — Steven Batista and Robert Diaz — rushed the dog, which was bleeding profusely, to the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus, Adams said.
Officials at the hospital said the smaller dog, named Melo, sustained a jugular vein laceration and that the cost of an operation, blood transfusion and recovery would be between $6,100 and $11,000, Adams said.
Adams said she did not have the money to pay for the operation or the deposit to keep Melo at the hospital overnight.
“I didn’t want him to be put him to sleep,” Adams said. “If I could have, I would have paid it. But unfortunately, I didn’t have the deposit they required.”
Adams said she is haunted by her daughter’s screams and the vision of her dog being swung back and forth by the pit-bull.
The pit-bull’s owner attempted to pull his dog away from the smaller animal, but was unsuccessful, she said.
“That’s an image that I can’t get out of my head,” Adams said. “I think maybe I should have picked him up … At one point I did look away … I was screaming and that’s when he let go. Melo fell to the floor, and you could just see the blood pouring out.”
Adams said the family got Melo as a gift to her daughter. She said she hopes the township would require that owners of pit-bulls and Rottweilers to muzzle their dogs when they take the dogs out in public.
The dog’s owner, John Youngblood, 33, of Ayers Court, was given two citations for violating township’s ordinance for failing to register the dog and for having a dog running-at-large, Forrest said.
(NorthJersey.com - July 13, 2012)
