A Kingston woman says she is afraid to let her two dogs out in her own backyard after separate attacks three months apart left the animals with stab wounds and the family with thousands of dollars in vet bills.
“I wanted to put up a ‘for sale’ sign on the house and leave,” Andrea Kleffman said.
The first attack happened in late June. Kleffman noticed her dog Lexi had a large, gaping wound with blood pouring out.
She admits that at the time she didn’t think anything sinister had taken place, chalking it up as a freak accident. That is until Sept. 11, when the family’s second dog, Bridget was attacked in a similar fashion.
“As it turns out the vets really thought (the attacks) looked quite similar,” Kleffman said.
Kingston police have not responded to our requests for information on this matter, but Kleffman says once police were contacted, their investigation concluded the dogs were indeed stabbed.
The Kleffmans’ backyard borders a small culvert. On the other side of the culvert is a parking lot for a housing complex.
Kleffman suspects those responsible would have been in the culvert.
But her story has caught the attention of animal rights group, PETA. The organization is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who can provide information leading to an arrest.
“Dogs and cats feel pain and fear just like we do,” PETA investigations specialist Colin Henstock said. “Bridget and Lexi were surely in agony when they were stabbed in their own back yard.”
Kleffman is hopeful PETA’s offer of a cash reward will help find those responsible and let her family move on from a traumatic experience.
Anyone with information on either incident is urged to contact Kingston police.