Dennis Prieur, 62, lives on 40 acres of wooded land in Pinora Township. He started his morning as usual on Friday, Aug. 28, when his two dogs woke him up to go outside.
His pets, a 7-year-old Chihuahua named Ava and a German Shepherd lab mix named Roxie, went out into the yard near the deck. Not long after, Prieur was in the bathroom when he heard barking from outside.
Roxie was jumping at the door. Prieur couldn't hear Ava.
Outside, he spotted two bear hunting dogs wearing collars and radio controlled antennae, he said.
"Ava was already started to be ripped to pieces," said Prieur, who has a bad knee and could not run to chase the dogs.
By the time he returned from retrieving his handgun, one of the hunting dogs was carrying the Chihuahua in its mouth to the neighbor's property.
"It's quite a horrific thing. It happened so fast," he said. "It was like a dream. ... I had just gotten up and my mind's trying to grasp all this."
Ava's body was later discovered on his neighbor's property.
Lake County Prosecutor Craig Cooper said the incident is under review for possible civil forfeiture of the dogs, which were properly licensed by the Department of Natural Resources to chase bears.
Cooper said there does not appear to be any criminal wrongdoing at this time. Owners can be held liable when their dog bites a person on public property without provocation or when the victim is lawfully on private property. Cooper said there is not a statute that allows for criminal prosecution when a dog injures another dog.
Prieur said he plans to take civil action.
Prieur recently installed trail cameras on his property after a break-in nearby. He said a camera caught images of the dogs' owner at the end of his driveway, and a deputy was able to use pictures of the man's vehicle to track him down.
Prieur said the man was brought back to the his property and denied owning the dogs that killed Ava.
Prieur lives across the street from state land. His house is situated almost 500 feet from the road.
"If my little Ava was out in the street there, that's my fault, that's a different story," he said. "The bottom line is you have to be responsible for your dogs."
Prieur also worried for the young children who live nearby.
"It coud've been them," he said.
Prieur's wife, Patty, died in February after a battle with cancer and other health issues. Ava was her dog, and she asked her husband to take care of the Chihuahua after she died.
"In a way I kind of felt I let her down, but I had no warning," Prieur said of the attack.
He said his children are devastated because Ava was a connection to their mother.
The Chihuahua was a "precious little thing" who spent most of her day relaxing on Prieur's deck, he said.
Prieur said the "brutal" and "vicious" attack is the second worse ordeal he's gone through following his wife's death, but he's stayed positive thanks to an outpouring of support from strangers after 9&10 News aired a story on the mauling this week. People have called from as far as California to see how they can help. Prieur asks that people make donations to Lake County Animal Control.
(MLive - Sept 4, 2015)
No comments:
Post a Comment