Watch above: The family says its German Shepherd was mauled by neighbouring dogs and needed hundreds of stitches. Kendra Slugoski reports. WARNING: details and video is disturbing.
WARNING: The pictures and details in this story may be disturbing to some.
EDMONTON – A woman living west of Edmonton says something has to be done, after her family dog was viciously attacked by two neighbouring dogs last week.
Heather Fontaine lives in Duffield, which is located in Parkland County about 65 kilometres west of Edmonton.
Last Tuesday, while at her son’s Taekwondo practice, Fontaine received a phone call from her neighbour Nicole Henry, saying her 90-pound German Shepherd, Beavis, had been attacked.
Henry says Beavis was in his fenced yard when two dogs who live next door pulled him through the fence by his ears and began mauling him.
“It was horrible,” Henry recalls. “I had to yell at them, throw rocks at them. They wouldn’t get off and he wasn’t moving. I thought he was dead.”
When she got home, Fontaine says couldn’t believe her eyes.
“I saw his ear hanging down by his jaw. I could see his skull… He was just bleeding profusely.”
“Honestly, at that particular time I thought, ‘He’s going to die.’ I didn’t think he was going to make it because it was just so horrific.”
Beavis was taken to the veterinarian where he underwent surgery and received 400 stitches, both internally and externally.
While Beavis is recovering at home, Fontaine says neighbours are fearful of the other dogs. They’ve had concerns in the past and say they’re afraid to go outside.
“Anybody that lives around here knows that if you walk down this street you might get attacked by a dog,” Fontaine says. “You carry a stick with you. Everybody is warned about these dogs.”
Henry says the dogs, one male and one female, have terrorized the neighbourhood for years.
“I don’t trust them, I just don’t. Who’s next?” she wonders. “We have to do something because it’s gone too far.”
Fontaine has spoken with the man who houses the dogs, but says he claims the dogs aren’t his.
“He says ‘they’re not my dogs. They’re wild dogs. I want them gone just as much as the next guy.’ But at the same time, he provides them with food and water.”
Parkland County says it can’t seize the animals because they live on part of the Paul First Nation, which is federal land.
It wasn’t until Global News called that RCMP launched an investigation. Officers say they will work with the band to determine what happens to the dogs.
With files from Kendra Slugoski, Global News.
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