According to a Racine County Sheriff’s Office report, Maggie Osborne, 18, told a deputy that she was walking her dog, Milo, an 8-month-old Bichon Frise, westbound on 11th Avenue on Tuesday night when a gray pit bull came out of nowhere and attacked Milo without provocation.
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| RIP Milo |
The pit bull ripped open the flesh of Milo’s rib cage area, she said. Seconds later, a man who she assumed at the time was the pit bull’s owner ran up and pulled the dog off Milo.
Rushed to clinic
A family friend rushed the puppy to the emergency veterinary clinic on Old Green Bay Road, the report said, but the animal’s injuries were too extensive and the family was forced to have the 13-pound puppy euthanized.
“(My children) had to witness their dog being utterly mutilated in front of them,” Alice Osborne, Maggie’s mother, said of the incident on Thursday.
Milo is still at the clinic, Alice Osborne said, because the family cannot afford to pay the $340 necessary to have an autopsy done on the dog and to have him cremated.
The sheriff’s deputy was called to scene, the 1100 block of 11th Street, at 8:50 p.m., report said, moments after dispatchers received several 911 calls regarding the attack.
Problem dog
When the deputy arrived, a number of people were in the street waving him down. He then went to the nearby house where the pit bull was staying.
In his report, the deputy states that he saw the pit bull penned in an area near the back of the house, and recognized it as Princess, who has had “numerous instances of being at large in the village over the last 3-4 years.”
He then spoke with Rod Koenen, who, he said in the report, was out of breath and could hardly speak.
When the deputy asked Koenen, 51, what had happened, Koenen said he opened the back door to let Princess out to relieve herself and she “just took off.”
Koenen then added, without prompting, that he knew he shouldn’t have let Princess stay with him, the report said.
“I knew something like this would happen,” he said, according to the report.
He said he had been watching Princess for owner 20-year-old Matthew Petrovic of Racine while Petrovic was out of town.
No comment
When the deputy told Koenen that he was responsible for the dog since the incident occurred on his watch, Koenen reportedly said, “I know it’s my fault and I am so sorry.”
On Wednesday, Koenen was issued municipal citations for “dog at large, no dog license, and vicious dog.” The “dog at large” and “no dog license” citations carry a fine of $82.50 each.
The vicious dog citation carries a fine of $114 and requires that Koenen either have Princess put to sleep or removed from the village.
When the deputy informed Koenen of the rule, he said he would be taking the dog to Illinois sometime Wednesday night but did not have the exact address. When asked Friday by a reporter if he would be paying for Milo’s doctor’s bill, Koenen said, “I do not want to make any comments at this time.”
Petrovic said Friday that the dog was “somewhere in Illinois.”
Brilliant. They should have seized the dog pending a court decision. Now, this dog has been squirreled away to Illinois, where it will undoubtedly begin mauling and attacking people and pets in that state. And Animal Control in Illinois will know nothing of this dog's past incidents.
This is what's called NIMBY - not in my backyard. The Village of Union Grove didn't want to deal with doing the right thing so they did the easiest thing - which was to tell the owner to take his killer dog somewhere else. This owner is NOT obligated to tell anyone where he's taken the dog, the dog is under NO restrictions, the new town will have no idea that the Village of Union Grove has sent the equivalent of a murderer into their town. Whoever is in charge that made this decision should have the killer pit bull move in next door to them, their children and their pets.
(Journal Times - August 5, 2012)
