Is It Time To Shoot Dallas' Stray Dogs?
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DALLAS (CBS11) - Is it time to shoot Dallas' stray dogs?
With a woman mauled to death in the street last week, a question that would have once been considered taboo, at the very least now reflects the frustration of those left to find solutions.
"Every night, right in that hole right there, they get out and chase people," says Michael Thomas. "My friend won't even come down here [any] more."
Michael Thomas lives in fear on the south Dallas street where a woman was mauled to death by loose dogs.
Family members say Antoinette Brown was bitten more than 100 times.
She died earlier this week after having been placed in a medically induced coma. But, her story could have easily been others'.
"Them same dogs came out the fence…about five of them, they surrounded me." Yes, Thomas had had his own close call. "Two or three days after they did her… the same ones tried to get at me."
That's right: the same dogs.
Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez has acknowledged that police failed to notify animal services after the May 2nd attack: leaving the dogs to run free for at least two more days, terrorizing the neighborhood.
"We dropped the ball," says Rickey Callahan, Dallas City council member representing District 5.
"I'm embarrassed today to be one of 15 council members…there was a disconnect."
Councilman Callahan says he's asked for more resources to attack the stray dog problem in his district for years. And he wants stiffer penalties for irresponsible owners. He points to those connected to Antoinette Brown's fatal attack.
"There had been 11 calls over a 3 year period," says Callahan, "and they'd had other violent dogs taken away from them. You don't want these kinds of owners to be able to do that. I don't know what the answer is."
Frustration over the issue is not new. Several months ago, Callahan gave voice to that frustration asking if it was time to shoot the strays. Today, he clarified that he meant with darts and tranquilizers so the dogs could be spayed, neutered and relocated. But, those who live with this danger say they're willing to consider all options: because nothing is more cruel than being torn apart by a pack of dogs.
Thomas admits, he could have been a victim.
'It's all over South Dallas, period… everywhere over here, they're running wild," says Thomas, and adding to city leaders, they've "got to do something."
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