Family dog killed by put bull mix in Macon

GEORGIA -- A pit bull mix lunged at a Macon woman and killed a shih tzu late last week before Bibb County animal control confiscated the dog.

Neketa Williams said she was walking Lacie, a 5-year-old shih tzu, near her home on Somerset Drive like she did every morning, when her neighbor’s pit bull mix attacked “out of nowhere.”

She said the pit bull grabbed Lacie by the neck before she could pick her up.

“It came after me,” she said. “I had to jump over a rail to get away from it.”

The dog then took Lacie back to its yard down the street. Williams said her 8-year-old daughter witnessed the scene from her porch.

Macon police reached Nona McNeil, who told them the pit bull belonged to her son who does not live with her. McNeil had Williams’ dead dog in a plastic bag and the pit bull mix in the basement, according to the police report of the incident.

The Bibb County Animal Welfare Department took the pit bull, and Macon police booked McNeil after discovering an active contempt of court warrant for her.

She was cited for failure to restrain her dog, the report said.

Other neighbors witnessed the attack, Williams said, and took up a collection to replace her daughter’s dog. She said they raised more than $250 that the family used to purchase a puppy.

Williams said her daughter had nightmares about the attack over the weekend.

“My baby is suffering,” she said. The family buried Lacie in the backyard.

The attack occurred Friday on “National Pit Bull Awareness Day,” which is billed as “a day of appreciation and education designed to change perceptions and stereotypes about pit bulls and their responsible owners,” according to the website nationalpitbullawarenessday.org.

Williams said dog owners need to be careful.

“What if it had been my child?” Williams said.

(Macon Telegraph - Oct 28, 2013)