A 1-year-old female pit bull and at least one rottweiler
attacked and killed a goat Thursday evening, a day after the
animals were reported to have injured the goat.
Gilroy – A 1-year-old female pit bull and at least one rottweiler attacked and killed a goat Thursday evening, a day after the animals were reported to have injured the goat.
The animals all lived together at 55 Las Animas Ave., along with a handful of chickens and roosters. The attacks were reported by a group of nearby construction workers shortly after 5pm.
The owners of the animals said the pit bull that attacked the goat was named “Sandy,” who they rescued as a stray.
“I’m hoping they don’t put her down, but I don’t know if we want her back,” said the woman who owns the dogs. She declined to give her name. She said her 13-year-old daughter routinely played with the pit bull, and that she and her husband Hector had been discussing what to do with the pit bull in light of recent news reports.
Gilroy Police Cpl. Veronica Georges said the attack was carried out by the pit bull and a 7-year-old female rottweiler. An 11-year-old male rottweiler was also apprehended at the scene but was not believed to have been part of the attack.
“One of the major concerns for me is that the construction workers told me these folks have small children,” Georges said. “And the pit bull is displaying this kind of behavior.”
The brown goat was mortally wounded by several bites to the chest and torso. It lay dead in the front yard as Gilroy police removed all the dogs from the scene. Georges said the animals will all be evaluated. She expects the pit bull will be put down.
The attack comes on the heels of four serious attacks by pit bulls against humans in the last month. The most serious was on June 3, when a 12-year-old San Francisco boy was killed by at least one of his family’s two pit bulls.
Last week, an 8-year-old Santa Rosa girl was attacked in her back yard by a 70-pound, unneutered pit bull. A week before that, another pit bull attacked its owner in Rohnert Park.
The attacks have apparently resonated with pit bull owners. The Sonoma County Humane Society reports that about 100 people have recently made appointments through the end of August to have their pets spayed or neutered is being swamped by requests from pit bull owners who want their pets spayed or neutered, which can lessen the breed’s aggressive tendencies.
