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Friday, May 14, 2010
Pit bull in custody in brutal dog attacks
By Liz Kellar
Staff Writer
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A pit bull named Romeo has been fingered as the alleged perpetrator in at least one of the brutal attacks against other pets that have been spooking residents of the Greenhorn Road area.
John Goetz, who lives in the 13000 block of Toby Trail, allegedly caught Romeo and another dog in the act of attacking Jazzy, a 4-year-old black Lab.
“He heard (the dog fight) and came out yelling and screaming,” said John Goetz's wife, Pam.
John saw two dogs, one of which was a pit bull, attacking Jazzy, but they ran off, Pam said.
“She was ripped in the leg and the chest and the neck,” she said.
But it was 12-year-old Sparky, a border collie-Queensland heeler mix, that got the brunt of the attack on Tuesday.
“He was in the driveway and was just chewed up terribly,” Pam Goetz said. “It was like something you'd see in a horror movie, he was ripped up so bad. His ear just hanging on his head.”
The Goetzes took Sparky to the veterinary clinic, where they discovered his trachea was torn as well.
“We didn't think he would pull through,” Pam Goetz said, explaining they decided to have him put to sleep.
“He was a wonderful dog,” she said.
Pam Goetz went “bushwhacking” later that day, determined to find the dog responsible.
She had a suspect in mind, she said. When she got to the pit bull's residence, there was a new chain connected to a post, but the dog was gone.
When the pit bull showed up, it had blood and a wound on its nose, Pam Goetz said.
“That dog's not OK in the head,” she said. “I hate for anybody to have to lose their pet, but I wouldn't think twice (about euthanizing it) if I was the owner.”
The Goetzes called Animal Control officers, who impounded the dog.
Later, John Goetz was asked to pick it out of a “doggie lineup” of about 15 dogs.
“He chose Romeo,” Pam Goetz said.
The pit bull remains in custody at Animal Control, said Sgt. Shirley Falls.
The owner has not yet decided whether to surrender the animal, which was adopted about a year ago, but officers believe the dog might need to be destroyed, Falls said.
Romeo's owner “won't get the dog back without building a major kennel,” she said. “I don't know how anyone could contain this dog.”
Falls said it was not clear if Romeo was involved in the other attacks in the area and the investigation was ongoing.
On May 3, Greenhorn Road resident Justin Nicholson came home to find something had attacked his three dogs, which were inside a “very heavy-duty” chainlink pen.
Initially, he believed several dogs he found outside the pen were the aggressors, said his wife, Cynthia. But the dogs were very friendly and had no blood on them, she said.
There was plenty of blood spattered on the fencing and wood of the kennel, which had some of the chainlink pulled up to the point where it was unraveling, Cynthia Nicholson said.
“Whatever is out there, I can't imagine it's a dog,” she said the day after the attack. “It's very scary.”
The Nicholsons have three dogs — a black Lab, a chocolate Lab and an English pointer, which had been bitten on the head.
The chocolate Lab had been the victim of an attack about two months ago while it was loose, Cynthia Nicholson said.
“She was bitten on her hind legs, she had a gaping 3-inch hole in her leg,” she said.
The Nicholsons live about 250 yards from the property owned by Marty Lopez on Toby Trail. Lopez's two dogs were killed in a brutal attack April 23.
Lopez, who lives in the 13000 block of Toby Trail off Greenhorn Road, found his two canine companions, Tiger and Varmint, “torn to shreds” — one on his porch and one just outside his pen.
Nevada County Animal Control Officer Christina Daley investigated the incident and said it might have been a group of three or four dogs that worked together on the kills, almost in the fashion that coyotes work together.
Anyone with information on the dog attacks is urged to call the Nevada County Sheriff's Office/Animal Control Division at (530) 273-2179.
http://www.theunion.com/article/20100514/NEWS/100519834/1066&ParentProfile=1053