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Dogs on loose kill dachshund
By JENNIFER FARRELL © St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2001 SPRING HILL -- When it was over, the tan dachshund lay bleeding on the ground. Lottie Zacira could hardly stand to look. The 74-year-old had slipped outside for an instant Monday morning to shoo a stray dog from her back yard. She had no idea Peanut had followed. Back in the kitchen, where she was cooking rice for her pet's breakfast, Zacira panicked. "I turned around, and I didn't see my dog," she said later. "I looked, and five dogs just tore her like a rag." Zacira watched helplessly as the dogs ripped Peanut apart. "I tried to help, and I screamed, and I had nothing in my hands and they just tore her," she said. "It was terrible." Zacira went to the front of her Larkin Road home and screamed for help. Neighbors came running, including one man who said he knew who owned the loose dogs. A short time later, a man appeared at the door and said he owned the dogs, Zacira said. He tried to calm her, then went out to see Peanut. When he picked up the dog, she was still breathing. The man and a neighbor rushed the animal to the vet, but the doctor told Zacira that, at 14, Peanut was too old to survive surgery. Zacira asked that her dog, a gift from her son after her husband died, be euthanized. County Code Enforcement Director Frank McDowell III said the matter is under investigation. "We'll make a determination on what needs to be done after we investigate," he said. "If the dogs were at large, the owner will be fined." McDowell said the case likely will be discussed at today's County Commission meeting, at which the board is set to discuss stiffening the penalties for owners who let their pets run loose. McDowell said he will urge commissioners to double the fines, which start at $60 for a first offense and run to $113 for a third offense. "The first time we can understand," McDowell said. "But when they start getting up two and three and four times, the penalties are going to get more severe." McDowell said the county is also considering taking animals from repeat offenders. "If a person can't be responsible enough to take care of the animal, they don't deserve to have it," he said. Zacira's neighbor, Donna Volker, said that Monday wasn't the first time the man's dogs were loose. "I've seen them running around quite a bit here," she said. On Monday evening, Zacira was still shaken, sobbing softly when she talked about Peanut. "She was everything to me . . . I know she would die sooner or later, but not this way." - Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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