Liberty Borough leaders warn of dog on the loose reportedly killing pets
LIBERTY BOROUGH (KDKA) — The Liberty Borough Police Department is warning residents to be on the lookout for a dog on the loose that is allegedly killing family pets.
The dog, believed to be a pit bull, has reportedly been on the loose since Sept. 13.
Ralph Marsico, the Liberty Borough police chief, said on Wednesday that a resident reported the dog killed their family dog.
"One of our residents had come to the station with remains of their pet, a dog who unfortunately had met this dog in an open field and had been killed to the degree that it was it was pretty graphic," Marsico said.
The incident happened on D Street. Two days later, a resident on Latrobe Street reported her daughter's 6-month-old kitten was also killed.
"I noticed that there was a disturbance out in my front yard yesterday. When I looked at the cameras, I was met with disturbing footage of a dog that has been loose in my neighborhood for a couple of days, attacking and taking away my kitten, my daughter's cat, and it's scary because they are having a hard time finding the dog," Katie Klos said.
Klos said her cameras caught the dog grabbing her kitten near their sidewalk.
"It happened at about 2:30 in the morning. I wasn't able to finish the entire video because of how graphic it was," Klos said. "I just wanted to go public and let people know in Liberty Borough, please be careful. Watch your pets. Watch the kids. Watch yourselves. We're really active neighborhood, so people are outside all the time."
Marsico said officials tried catching the dog several times but have so far been unsuccessful.
"We do not know how the dog responds to being around people. We know what it's doing to animals. So just based on that, we would caution the public," Marsico said.
Marsico is also asking for the owners of the dog to come forward to help them catch it before another innocent pet is killed.
"Just come forward. Apologize. I am a Christian, so I would forgive you. But please, don't own a pet if you're not going to be responsible with your pet," Klos said.
Marsico said if you see the dog, do not approach it but call 911 immediately.
"We can respond to these sort of situations a lot faster if they utilize the 911 system. So, I really encourage them to call whenever they have these sightings," Marsico said.
He said charges are likely, but the first priority is catching the dog.
"We really need your help and trying to get your dog to safety and off the street. And then we need to try and figure out our next steps from there," Marsico said.
"Please keep your eyes peeled because I don't want anything negative, anything scary or bad happening to the kids in this neighborhood," Klos said.
