The call ended suddenly in shrieking howls.
"I thought it was him," said Locurto's girlfriend, Wendy. "I just kept hearing these screams."
Locurto and his dogs, Chico the Chihuahua and Edie the Jack Russell, had been attacked by a loose dog that appeared to be a pit bull. The encounter occurred outside his home, directly adjacent to Niagara Falls City Hall in Main Street's 700 block.
"I didn't know what it was at first, it came out of the dark," Locurto said. "It was horrific, it was the worst two minutes of my life."
Chico lost his eye. Edie, who is making a recovery, remains hospitalized with a broken shoulder blade and 74 staples spread across her upper torso. Locurto managed to help fend off the animal and sustained a bite to his hand, cuts and bruises.
Chico was the first to be attacked. Locurto said he leapt on the pit bull, punching his head and attempting to pry open his locking jaws. The attacking animal was then distracted by Edie, who had come to the side of her distressed owner.
"He tore Edie to shreds," Locurto said of the next few seconds. "The vet told us he missed her major arteries, just missed her trachea."
By this time, Locurto said, he was "screaming bloody murder." Edie limped quickly back to the house with Locurto in pursuit, Chico in his arm. Edie beat him to the steps and collapsed, he said, as the attacking dog charged again.
A neighbor, alerted to the incident, made his way outside to help Locurto and finally chase the dog off.
"It just ran away then," Locurto said. "I can’t even close my eyes, the vision keeps popping in my head."
The veterinary bill for Locurto's dogs, cared for at a Grand Island animal hospital, totals $5,000. The family has set up a crowd-funding campaign to assist with the medical fees. The fund can be found online at www.gofundme.com/css3ygjc. It had raised more than $300 as of press time.
Locurto, a Falls' resident for 20 years who works in the city's engineering office, said he has never experienced a dog attack before and considers himself a dog lover, including the infamous breed that brutalized his two dogs.
"I always thought it was the owner, not the breed," he said. "I'll probably still think that, but right now, who knows."
"But this dog needs to be off the street, it’s that dangerous," he added.
Locurto described the attacking dog as a pit bull, 50 pounds to 60 pounds in weight, with black and white coloration and no dog tags.
Falls' Animal Control Officer, David Bauer, said his department is in the process of investigating, but had nothing further to report on Wednesday.
(Niagara Gazette - Feb 10, 2016)
