Abducted Pit Bulls Shot and Killed; Owners Jailed

Owners Previously Won Claim Against City
Sacramento, CA - A couple who won a $210,000 judgment against the City of Richmond after police shot their pit bull were jailed this week after their new pit bulls mauled a hotel maintenance worker. Sacramento County sheriff's detectives, looking for Cynthia Peters, 41, and Mark Parr, 43, in connection with an unrelated robbery, found them in a hotel.

"The door was ajar. When they knocked, they heard a woman inside," sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran said. "Unfortunately, at that moment, a maintenance worker was pushing a cart down the hall." The couple's two pit bulls, Brutus and Smokey, charged into the hallway and "shredded" some of the maintenance man's limbs. A detective shot and killed both attacking dogs.

After the couple won the judgment against Richmond, they picked up two new pit bulls, Brutus and Smokey and moved to Carmichael. The two dogs quickly proceeded to attack a Sacramento Municipal Utility District worker that was sent to the house to investigate a report that the residents were stealing power. The worker was severely bitten on his arms and legs.

Sacramento County Animal Control confiscated the dogs and an order came down July 9th to destroy them. But on the evening of July 8th, someone cut through the fence at the pound in Sacramento County, cut the locks on the cages containing the dogs, and took the dogs. The facility lacks security cameras and authorities lacked evidence of the culprit.

The next day, two people matching the description of Peters and Parr were caught on video surveillance robbing an 80-year-old woman of her purse. Sheriff's detectives recognized the suspects as Peters and Parr and began searching for them. They found them in the hotel with Brutus and Smokey who subsequently attacked a hotel maintenance worker.

In other news:

Child-Killing Rottweilers Donated to Police
Bangkok - In other head scratching news, two rottweiler dogs that mauled a 2-year-old to death this week were donated to a special police task force for training. The dogs would be trained to track down criminals but will first be tested for two months to see if they are suitable for the job, the English-language Bangkok Post reported.

The two dogs were originally purchased by a Dutch man to protect his house. Instead of doing this, they killed the man's 2-year old daughter. Jintana Ploo, the girl's mother, said she had placed Nina on the ground to unlock her front door when the two dogs dashed out and attacked her daughter. Ploo also sustained bites to her legs when she tried to save the child.

Now the dog owners have donated the animals to the police after the army's dog-training center rejected them for lacking the qualities of military dogs. Under the right guidance, the dogs may do well tracking down criminals. But the donation is certainly an odd choice after the same dogs killed the dog owners child and attacked the mother.

Labels: pit bull owners