"These can be dangerous and destructive and we need to make sure the owners can keep them contained, keep them inside a fence, keep them from doing this sort of thing to other pets or people," Spinelli tells WINK News.
The episode started after Jennifer and two children went away on vacation. A pet sitter came to their house and found the two pit bulls, still inside, and he found the carcass of the Spinelli's pet dog: Milo, a golden retriever-poodle mix (Goldendoodle).
"It hurts so much that my dog was killed. We are devastated. He was a member of our family," says Spinelli.
She believes the pits got in through a doggie door that was blocked with a thin piece of plastic.
"Those are strong dogs, they pushed right through that plastic barrier," she says.
The dogs attacked Milo, splattering blood all over the kitchen, a hallway, and a back bedroom.
"I can't imagine a murder scene looking worse than this," says Spinelli.
She says the pits attacked Milo two other times this year, outside the home. He survived those attacks, but had to undergo surgery to repair wounds.
Spinelli wants Lee Co. to pass tougher rules on pits and their owners. But Ria Brown of Lee Animal services notes: the state forbids a city or county from banning a specific dog breed. She says officers gave the pit bulls' owner citations after the earlier attacks, but could not seize the dogs as "dangerous" because Spinelli had not signed a sworn statement of complaint.
Officers did take the pits away on Tuesday and both were euthanized. The owner of the dogs refused to talk with WINK News.
(Wink News - July 17, 2013)
