New Yorker whose canine was mauled by pit bull needs hotline for accountable pet homeowners

Metro

By Melissa Koenig

Published
March 14, 2024, 5:58 pm ET

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An Upper East Side regulation college scholar says her canine was viciously mauled by a pit bull that may be a recognized “menace” within the neighborhood — and is asking on the town to do extra to guard accountable canine homeowners similar to herself from “repeat offenders” just like the pit bull’s proprietor.

Zaira Rojas, 28, stated she took her almost 4-year-old border collie, Barrett, to Ruppert Park on Feb. 24 — similar to she does each Saturday to play fetch and do tips — when he was abruptly accosted by the aggressive pit bull and almost died in her arms.

Barrett was simply taking a fast toilet and water break from their recreation of fetch and was standing close to the bushes when the pit bull approached. The two dogs acquired into “what I usually call a scuffle,” Rojas informed The Post.

“I managed to separate Barrett and had gotten him to sit down in front of me, and I was holding his neck, making sure he was more or less fine,” she recounted.

“While I was doing that, the other owner was behind me, presumably holding back his own dog.”

But quickly, she stated the pit bull managed to get free and ran again towards Barrett to proceed their battle — pushing him into the again fence and leaving the border collie mendacity on his facet.

“At the time, it looked like the other dog had gotten a hold of the back of Barrett’s neck,” she stated.

Rojas desperately tried to carry onto Barrett, whom she stated has been by her facet via regulation college and a divorce, whereas the opposite unidentified canine proprietor held onto his canine because it maintained its grip on Barrett.

“For two to three minutes — honestly, it felt like an eternity — I’m holding Barrett and the other owner is failing to get his dog to let go of Barrett,” Rojas stated.

She described how she tried to plug the pit bull’s nostril “but he didn’t even flinch.”

“At this point, I’m really starting to panic,” she stated.

“Barrett is whimpering. I keep telling him he’s going to be OK, but truthfully in my mind I thought, ‘I think Barrett might die. I think this dog is going to kill my dog.’”

The stand-off solely ended when a superb Samaritan supplied to assist, and splashed water on the pit bull’s face — inflicting him to let go, Rojas stated.

“I immediately grab Barrett and hug him and he sits up and I start patting him trying to see if he’s OK,” she stated.

“I see his fur is covered in saliva and what looks like blood, but it’s super light, and he’s letting me pat him so I think he’s OK.”

Rojas then turned to speak to the pit bull’s proprietor “but by then, he’s gone.”

“I was at this point shaking, and truthfully felt like I was having an out-of-body experience and wasn’t sure what to do next,” she stated.,

“But what I just kept thinking is, ‘I don’t want this to change Barrett.’ I didn’t want Barrett to start feeling afraid of the park or of playing fetch or of other dogs,” she stated.

“So we stayed for about 30 to 45 minutes, continuing fetch. I really wanted him to not even remember what happened to him.”

But Barrett can not spend any “meaningful” time outdoors as he continues to get better, Rojas stated.

He has already needed to get an abscess fashioned from the pit bull’s tooth marks drained and was placed on antibiotics and a lightweight sedative — which he has been on for greater than two weeks now.

Rojas is now making an attempt to trace down the irresponsible pet proprietor, whom she referred to as a menace in remarks to Upper East Site.

She tried reaching out to group teams on each Facebook and Instagram and acquired responses from others who’ve had unhealthy experiences with the canine, she stated.

One person stated the pit bull bit him within the leg whereas he was making an attempt to rescue his personal canine from the menace’s clutches, whereas Maya Haber wrote that the proprietor even tried to inform her an attack is just going “too far” if the pit bull is about to kill “as if it’s just something that happens out of the blue,” in accordance with feedback seen by The Post.

Another canine proprietor, in the meantime, wrote that the pit bull proprietor “always says the dog ‘plays too rough,’” however nonetheless continues to convey him to the canine park and barely watch him.

“My dog has been attacked twice (thankfully nothing too serious) and the owner is never even in the vicinity to grab his dog, both times a third person had to run over and help me and my dog, and now my dog is reactive towards big dogs,” the proprietor wrote.

Rojas has since contacted animal management, who informed her there was nothing they might do concerning the canine, and is planning to file a police report, she stated.

But she stated what would actually assistance is extra assist from metropolis officers.

“I don’t think there’s currently a good way for dog owners to get the help and support about what to do in these situations,” she lamented.

She stated the town ought to create a hotline wherein folks may report incidents with aggressive dogs and “have something done about repeat offenders.”

Rojas additionally urged that canine parks ought to require obedience coaching or “training in proper dog play.”

“Oftentimes, I’ve found people just don’t think that the way they’re training is a problem, or rather that there’s a lack of training,” she stated.