For weeks, the 54-year-old man had taken care of his friend’s dog, taking the pet for walks and feeding it when he had no money to feed himself.
Even when the dog, a bullmastiff named Chopper, bit both him and a friend in separate incidents, Grueneklee kept it around as he tried to reach out to animal services agencies for help.
But relations between man and dog came to an abrupt and violent end Tuesday when Chopper lashed out in Grueneklee’s rented Leslieville room, sending him to hospital with serious injuries and sparking a police standoff in which the dog was shot dead.
“He was all right for the longest time. But for some reason, he turned and I don’t know why,” said Grueneklee who is awaiting reconstructive surgery on his arm at St. Michael’s Hospital. “I’m glad it’s over with. Nobody likes to see an animal killed, but in this case, what can you do?”
Grueneklee took possession of Chopper earlier this month, a favour for a friend who said he needed someone to care for the dog for just a few days. But after the friend was reportedly sent to jail, days turned into weeks and Grueneklee said he began to see a vicious streak in the dog.
About three weeks ago, Chopper bit Grueneklee, but authorities say the incident was not reported. Roughly a week later, the dog bit one of Grueneklee’s friends, sending that man to hospital.
Fiona Venedam, a Toronto Animal Services supervisor, said she believed the agency had received a report of the second biting, but had yet to confirm whether Chopper was the dog in question.
Grueneklee said he tried to get rid of Chopper after the biting attacks, but was refused help by Animal Services because he was unable to transport the dog himself. He didn’t have a muzzle, “so I couldn’t take that chance.”
Venedam confirmed that Animal Services does not pick up animals.
In Tuesday’s attack, the dog sank its teeth into Grueneklee’s arms and legs in his room above the Duke Live on Queen St. E.
Ross Williams, another tenant who lives two doors down from Grueneklee, said he and others emerged from their rooms after hearing the screams down the hall.
In the hallway, Williams, 64, said he saw Grueneklee slumped on the floor, blood covering his arms ravaged by the dog, as another neighbour tried to stop the bleeding with a towel.
“The door was shut to keep the dog in,” said Williams.
Toronto police Const. Wendy Drummond said the emergency task force spent about 30 minutes attempting to bring Chopper under control, even trying unsuccessfully to Taser the dog.
“It was leaning out the window, barking . . . we thought it might jump,” said Duke Live owner Ted Rallis, who was evacuated from the building alongside the tenants as police attempted to control the dog. At around 7 p.m., police shot the dog.
“Sadly it didn’t work out for the dog,” Const. Rob McDonald tweeted. “I feel for both the victim and dog, it didn’t pick his situation."
[The dog was described by a neighbor as a Neopolitan Bull Mastiff, weighing about 160-lbs.]
(The Star - August 29, 2012)
