He liked to get up early in the morning. He liked to make sure his owners, Lissa Mings and Bobby Landon, filled his food bowl. And when weather allowed, he liked to be let outside for a lap around the house before settling on the front porch to gaze and blink at the world as it passed through Abingdon.
“That was Bob. He was a good cat,” Landon said Monday afternoon. “He had his own personality. Some people might not understand this — but Bob was a big part of our family.”
You may have noticed Landon spoke of Bob in the past tense. That’s because the black cat that brought his own indelible personality to the house Mings and Landon share at 411 W. South St. is dead.
Bob died Saturday morning after being attacked by a pit bull.
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| Bob, right, and Nemo share a moment. Bob was attacked, mauled and killed by a pit bull. |
Mings, who found Bob when he was a stray, is distraught. Landon is saddened. And angry. He relayed the horror he and Mings experienced Saturday because he — like a growing number of people in Knox County — thinks something needs to be done about dog attacks.
“Bob was up early Saturday,” said Landon, who serves the city of Abingdon as a volunteer firefighter. “And when he gets up, somebody has to get up. He is adamant about his food. Even if he doesn’t eat right away, he wants to see you put food in his bowl.
“Then I let him out. Bob is — was — one of those easy-going cats. He didn’t chase squirrels or bother the birds. He’d do his one lap around the house and sit on the front porch and just watch. That’s what he did.”
Landon let Bob out. The cat was joined by his feline buddy, Nemo.
“I started getting ready for work,” Landon said. “I was getting dressed and I heard a thump against the front door. Then I heard a single, distressed meow.
“I knew there was something wrong on the porch.”
Barefoot, in boxers and a shirt, Landon threw open the front door. He said he’ll never forget what he saw.
“There were two big dogs on the porch — a big black pit bull and a big black rottweiler,” Landon said. “And the pit bull had Bob in its mouth.”
Landon grabbed a handgun.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” he said. “And I went back to the porch and as soon as I drew down on those dogs, they took off.”
Then Landon heard the screams of Nemo from around the side of the house. He reached the scene and found the cat on top of a birdhouse and another pit bull — tan in color — circling.
“I saw Nemo was safe and went flying down South Street toward the highway (Illinois 41),” Landon said. “I almost caught those dogs. They crossed the highway and a car came by and I had to stop.
“And I’ll never forget this. That black pit bull was on the other side and it just turned and looked right at me. I felt like it was almost taunting me.”
Landon rushed back to check on Bob.
“He wasn’t on the porch,” he said. “Lissa was out of the house and I told her to call the police and to call a vet. I called out for Bob once. And we heard him cry.”
The couple found Bob under a car in their driveway.
“By the time I put the car in neutral and pushed it clear of Bob, I knew from one look Bob was dying,” Landon said. “His pupils were dilated. His breathing was abnormal. He was going to die.”
Landon praised the Abingdon police, who were on the scene in moments. They took pictures of the scene and took Landon’s statement while Mings raced to get Bob to the vet’s office in Roseville.
Bob lasted just three minutes in the vet’s care.
“He died after getting to the vet’s office,” Landon said. “They couldn’t save him. The dog had done too much damage.”
Landon knows who owns all three of the dogs. It’s not the first time they’ve run free in Abingdon.
“I’m told that the owners knew their dogs were loose the night before — that they had tried to get them in, but gave up when the dogs took off,” Landon said. “And right now, the only thing they can be cited for is allowing their dogs to roam off a leash.”
Landon said people should be tired of dog owners who don’t have to take responsibility for the actions of their pets.
“On one hand, I don’t want to see a ban on pit bulls because I don’t know that we want to tell people what kind of pet they can own,” Landon said. “But it is ridiculous that there is no accountability for what a pet does.
“What if Lissa and I let a small child out on that porch? What if that had been a kid the dogs found and not a cat? Here’s a fact — no one owns a pit bull. That kind of dog owns you. We know they are a breed of dog that can snap any time. They snap and they can kill another pet. They snap and they can kill a child.”
Landon said owners who let dogs like pit bulls and rottweilers roam free should face heavy fines. And he said owners of dogs that kill should face jail time.
“If you are negligent with a car or a gun or you kill someone out of some other kind of negligence, you are held accountable. And you should be,” Landon said. “Why don’t dog owners have to take responsibility for what their dog does?”
Now Mings and Landon are dealing with a death in their family.
“People can laugh and say ‘It was just a cat. It was just a pet.’ But Bob was much more than that,” Landon said. “Bob loved us. And we loved him. It didn’t matter that he was a cat. Lissa rescued him and loved him and he was a living thing with a personality who gave her a lot of joy.
“I’m angry. But mostly I’m sad. Sad for Lissa. And sad for Bob. He had to suffer. No living thing should have to die the way he did.”
(PJ Star - Jun 12, 2013)
