Anne Stills was treated for multiple puncture wounds following the incident at about 5 p.m., during which the dogs bit her thigh, elbow and hand. Her 8-year-old longhair Chihuahua, Lillie, didn’t survive.
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| RIP Lillie |
Stills, 62, who lives in the Villa Alegre public housing complex, said she usually walks in the Santa Fe River park across the street, but she decided to walk her pet along the north side of West Alameda on Monday because it was cold outside, and the sun was still hitting the north side of the street.
Lillie was on a leash and was wearing a small sweater, and Stills was wearing multiple layers of clothing and a heavy coat, she said.
When she reached 604 West Alameda St., Stills said, she found herself grabbing Lillie and trying to hold her away from a pit bull terrier that had jumped a 3-foot-tall chain-link fence.
“I was holding her up with my arms as high as I could,” Stills said.
But the pit bull got ahold of Lillie, and soon a second pit bull had jumped the fence. “I tried to get between them,” Stills said. “I just wanted to save her.”
A woman came out of the house and tried to try to gain control of the dogs, Stills said. “She was fighting with all her strength to restrain them.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the resident of the house apparently was not home and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Santa Fe police Capt. Aric Wheeler said the two pit bull terriers were in quarantine Tuesday night at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society while the city’s Animal Control Division investigates the incident. He said no formal report had been completed and that he didn’t have information on the owners of the animals.
Wheeler said that if officials make a determination that the dogs are vicious, the animals could be put down.
Stills on Tuesday had built a small memorial to Lillie near the scene of the attack.
“She was my companion,” Stills said. “I was just totally in love.”
(santafenewmexican.com - Nov 13, 2012)
