Post by RealPitBull on Jan 18, 2008 8:30:33 GMT -5
As man sleeps, pit bull enters home, kills cat
By Kim Wilmath
For The Herald
HIGH SPRINGS -- Judy Rimes made a promise to her dying sister four years ago. At the time, taking care of a tiny Himalayan kitten seemed a small favor, and Rimes readily agreed.
But that vow was violently torn Friday morning along with a flimsy window screen.
Samantha is dead.
At about 10 a.m. that day, Rimes’ husband, Rodney Chappell, awoke to an unfamiliar growl outside their home in northwest High Springs.
It wasn’t Beauty, the 16-year-old family dog who’s so old she can “barely bark.” It wasn’t Serena or Lucy, the two pythons who also live in the house, and it certainly wasn’t one of the three cats.
Instead, it was an intruder – a dog.
Chappell caught up with her before she could escape under the backyard fence. He was horrified to discover the nature of the large dog’s visit when it turned around and lifted its head.
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There, in the pit bull's jaws, was Samantha. She was bleeding.
When the pit bull, a neighborhood dog named Amber, dropped the cat from her toothy grasp, Chappell scooped her up.
“She took her last few breaths in his arms, and she died,” Rimes said.
Chappell wrapped Samantha’s body in a blanket, placed her on the couch and called his wife at work.
“He was crying hysterically, saying, ‘Why did you leave Sammy out? You’ve left her out, and the dog killed her, and she’s dead,’” Rimes said.
Rimes immediately came home from her Gainesville office to find Chappell still crying and still covered in blood. The screen of a window from the front bedroom was ripped open and dotted with clumps of fur.
Chapppell had not left the cat out. The dog had come in.
“I’m from the country. I always sleep with my window cracked,” Rimes said. “It was half-open when it happened.”
A neighbor, Lonnie Lockett, called police, according to a High Springs Police report. Lockett told police he had seen the dog following cats and small children around the neighborhood before Friday’s incident.
Vernon Sawyer, field service supervisor for Alachua County Animal Services, said the department had filed a complaint against Amber’s owners, Amy and Michael Kenner of 17114 N.W. 239th Terrace, just one day before Samantha died. The dog was running loose in the neighborhood, and the Kenners were fined $50, he said.
Not until about 11 a.m. Friday did the department take Amber into custody.
Sawyer said the department would conduct an investigation to decide whether the dog will be allowed back into the neighborhood or if she should be euthanized.
If Amber is deemed only aggressive, her owners can take her home. She’ll have to be kept in a cage and wear a muzzle and leash when outside, Sawyer said.
However, if the department thinks Amber is dangerous, she could be put to sleep.
A lengthy appeal process could postpone the potential execution “and rightfully so,” Sawyer said.
“There needs to be checks and balances to everything,” he said.
He said the investigation should take just a few days.
“People who own animals need to understand that they have a responsibility to maintain that animal,” Sawyer said. “If your animal leaves your property, you are responsible for any damages that may occur.”
The Kenners could not be reached for comment.
Lt. Gordon Fulwood, interim chief of the High Springs Police Department, said he doesn’t think Friday’s incident reflects a larger animal control problem in the area. These things happen from time to time, he said.
“Either they get loose, or people just don’t keep them secure like they should,” he said.
That’s no comfort to Rimes.
“I just don’t know what to say,” Rimes said. “It’s such a senseless tragedy.”
She said she cremated Samantha, better known as Sammy Sue, later on Friday. Rimes said she’s planning to place Samantha’s ashes beside the ashes of the cat’s first owner, Rimes’s sister, Peggy, who died of lung cancer in 2004.
Samantha would have been 4 this month.
“She had the biggest, brightest, baby-blue eyes and a little dark nose,” Rimes said.
Rimes said she knows all about owning dangerous animals, and hers live “behind lock and key.”
Serena, a 4-and-a-half-foot, peanut-colored python and “redheaded” 7-foot-long Lucy are safely caged, Rimes said, and she makes sure everyone in the neighborhood knows about her slithery housemates.
“People just need to be aware,” she said.
But no amount of awareness will bring back the way Sammy nuzzled Rimes to wake her up each morning or the way she watched over Beauty, the family dog, Rimes said.
“She was like a little nursemaid for her,” she said. “Since she’s been gone, the dog has just kind of wandered around from room to room like she knows Sammy’s gone.”
The family is now left with only memories and nagging feelings of helplessness.
“My husband and I talked about selling the house. We talked about fencing,” Rimes said. “You know, right now, we’re in such shock and trauma I don’t even know if we know what we’re talking about.”
By Kim Wilmath
For The Herald
HIGH SPRINGS -- Judy Rimes made a promise to her dying sister four years ago. At the time, taking care of a tiny Himalayan kitten seemed a small favor, and Rimes readily agreed.
But that vow was violently torn Friday morning along with a flimsy window screen.
Samantha is dead.
At about 10 a.m. that day, Rimes’ husband, Rodney Chappell, awoke to an unfamiliar growl outside their home in northwest High Springs.
It wasn’t Beauty, the 16-year-old family dog who’s so old she can “barely bark.” It wasn’t Serena or Lucy, the two pythons who also live in the house, and it certainly wasn’t one of the three cats.
Instead, it was an intruder – a dog.
Chappell caught up with her before she could escape under the backyard fence. He was horrified to discover the nature of the large dog’s visit when it turned around and lifted its head.
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There, in the pit bull's jaws, was Samantha. She was bleeding.
When the pit bull, a neighborhood dog named Amber, dropped the cat from her toothy grasp, Chappell scooped her up.
“She took her last few breaths in his arms, and she died,” Rimes said.
Chappell wrapped Samantha’s body in a blanket, placed her on the couch and called his wife at work.
“He was crying hysterically, saying, ‘Why did you leave Sammy out? You’ve left her out, and the dog killed her, and she’s dead,’” Rimes said.
Rimes immediately came home from her Gainesville office to find Chappell still crying and still covered in blood. The screen of a window from the front bedroom was ripped open and dotted with clumps of fur.
Chapppell had not left the cat out. The dog had come in.
“I’m from the country. I always sleep with my window cracked,” Rimes said. “It was half-open when it happened.”
A neighbor, Lonnie Lockett, called police, according to a High Springs Police report. Lockett told police he had seen the dog following cats and small children around the neighborhood before Friday’s incident.
Vernon Sawyer, field service supervisor for Alachua County Animal Services, said the department had filed a complaint against Amber’s owners, Amy and Michael Kenner of 17114 N.W. 239th Terrace, just one day before Samantha died. The dog was running loose in the neighborhood, and the Kenners were fined $50, he said.
Not until about 11 a.m. Friday did the department take Amber into custody.
Sawyer said the department would conduct an investigation to decide whether the dog will be allowed back into the neighborhood or if she should be euthanized.
If Amber is deemed only aggressive, her owners can take her home. She’ll have to be kept in a cage and wear a muzzle and leash when outside, Sawyer said.
However, if the department thinks Amber is dangerous, she could be put to sleep.
A lengthy appeal process could postpone the potential execution “and rightfully so,” Sawyer said.
“There needs to be checks and balances to everything,” he said.
He said the investigation should take just a few days.
“People who own animals need to understand that they have a responsibility to maintain that animal,” Sawyer said. “If your animal leaves your property, you are responsible for any damages that may occur.”
The Kenners could not be reached for comment.
Lt. Gordon Fulwood, interim chief of the High Springs Police Department, said he doesn’t think Friday’s incident reflects a larger animal control problem in the area. These things happen from time to time, he said.
“Either they get loose, or people just don’t keep them secure like they should,” he said.
That’s no comfort to Rimes.
“I just don’t know what to say,” Rimes said. “It’s such a senseless tragedy.”
She said she cremated Samantha, better known as Sammy Sue, later on Friday. Rimes said she’s planning to place Samantha’s ashes beside the ashes of the cat’s first owner, Rimes’s sister, Peggy, who died of lung cancer in 2004.
Samantha would have been 4 this month.
“She had the biggest, brightest, baby-blue eyes and a little dark nose,” Rimes said.
Rimes said she knows all about owning dangerous animals, and hers live “behind lock and key.”
Serena, a 4-and-a-half-foot, peanut-colored python and “redheaded” 7-foot-long Lucy are safely caged, Rimes said, and she makes sure everyone in the neighborhood knows about her slithery housemates.
“People just need to be aware,” she said.
But no amount of awareness will bring back the way Sammy nuzzled Rimes to wake her up each morning or the way she watched over Beauty, the family dog, Rimes said.
“She was like a little nursemaid for her,” she said. “Since she’s been gone, the dog has just kind of wandered around from room to room like she knows Sammy’s gone.”
The family is now left with only memories and nagging feelings of helplessness.
“My husband and I talked about selling the house. We talked about fencing,” Rimes said. “You know, right now, we’re in such shock and trauma I don’t even know if we know what we’re talking about.”