JACKSON COUNTY, IL — Debbie Kapusta is afraid she won't be able to send her child out to play this summer, after an altercation between her Shih Tzu, Snoopy and a neighbor's dog Rex, which is part Chow.
Kapusta's hand and thigh were injured when she tried to wrestle her dog out of Rex’s mouth.
Kapusta works at Channel 3.
Considering the injuries, she was stunned to learn that her neighbor's dog had returned home.
News 3 decided to find out why animal control released the dog from quarantine and return it to its owners.
Snoopy is going to be fine, but bite marks and Kapusta’s injuries will be reminders of a scary altercation for some time.
Kapusta says that Snoopy and a canine friend were playing in her yard why Rex (the chow mix) came by.
Rex was on a leash, being walked by his owner’s teenage daughter.
Jackson County does not have a leash law.
"[The dogs] ran up and they were investigating," said Philip Austin, who witnessed the altercation.
All of a sudden, “I saw was something going back and forth, back and forth… something white," Kapusta said.
“And I realized that dog had Snoopy in his mouth.”
Kapusta and Austin tried to separate the dogs.
"Debbie started hitting the big dog. She was scared," Austin said.
"He did let loose. I pulled Snoopy out. And that's when the big dog looked at me and chomped my leg," Kapusta said.
[NOTE: Odd that no one says the teenage girl did anything to stop her own dog from mauling the Shih Tzu or her neighbor. The witness Philip Austin seems to be the only one reported to have tried to help.]
Rex was quarantined by Jackson County animal control officer Lloyd Nelson.
"I have never had any registered complaints about this particular dog," Nelson said.
After a period of confinement, Rex is home and Kapusta is scared for her family and her pet, which she inherited from her late mother.
"Our life as we know it is not the same," she said.
Nelson said a dog that bites isn't considered vicious if it's provoked— even if the provocateur is its owner.
"It may be a young child reaching to get food out of a dish. It may be someone getting in the middle of two dogs fighting," Nelson said.
Rex's owners declined an interview, but they said he plays well with other dogs.
The dog belongs to Edwin Harris’ wife. She would not give us her name.
Kapusta would like to see them put a fence around their yard.
Her only option is to file complaints if and when Rex gets loose.
She feels helpless.
"It's summer and there's no way I will let my daughter out with that dog there," she said.
Nelson said there is a legal process for removing a dog from its home and typically only severely traumatic injuries-- for no apparent reason-- result in an animal being automatically removed.
(WSIL - May 27, 2011)
