May 23, 2008

Albemarle County Police are investigating a pit bull attack in which a small dog was mauled and killed in the Woodlake neighborhood Thursday.

Police are still trying to confirm which pit bull mauled an elderly woman’s beloved pet. They say the owner could be charged with owning a dangerous dog.

“I heard Shelby scream and I heard Bev scream Faye, Faye help me,” said next door neighbor and friend Faye Cason.

Cason says she saw a large dark pit bull mauling her friend's tiny dog, Shelby.

“She [Shelby’s owner] had managed to get Shelby out of his jaws. I had on some heavy walking shoes and I just kept kicking the dog and kicking the dog and finally I kicked it under its chin and it let out a yelp and ran up the hill,” said Cason.

Cason rushed Shelby and her friend Beverley to the animal hospital. “She was so mangled she looked like a mangled bloody rag,” said Cason.

It was too late. “They did everything to save her, but she died 15 minutes later,” said Cason. The two and a half pound Pomeranian died from a puncture wound to the heart.

“That little dog was her life and soul,” said Cason.

Faye's not sure, but thinks the attacker is one of two Pit Bulls that live in this house. She says neighbors have been terrified of the dogs since the family moved there less than a year ago.

“They claw and claw on the back gate,” said Cason.

She says she knows of another dog in her Woodlake neighborhood that was bitten by a pit bull and a cat that was also killed. We asked Faye, ‘What should happen to the dog?’ and she said, “It should be put down.”

Any decision to put down the dog would ultimately be up to the dog's owner. We should also tell you some neighbors off camera did tell us the pit bulls in question, are good gentle dogs.

And as for how the pit bull got lose, neighbors believe someone accidentally left the gate open.