The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

July 6, 2012

Dogs attack, kill backyard pets

Fear follows strays’ strike

By Courtney L. Saylor -----

SUGAR GROVE TOWNSHIP — Stray – perhaps wild – dogs killed a family’s pet goats early Thursday on Log Cabin Road in Sugar Grove Township and are still on the loose.

“They totally mauled them,” Judith Williams said of her four goats. “It’s horrible. It was all about killing them.”

Hempfield Township police said they were called at 7:30 a.m. for goats attacked by two stray dogs at 13 Log Cabin.

Police said a neighbor heard dogs barking and goats bleating, went outside and saw a dogs in the goat pen. Williams said they must have jumped the 4-foot high fence to get at the goats.

One of the dogs looked like a yellow Labrador retriever and they both took off as people arrived.

“People better be careful,” Williams said, as the dogs are apparently running free. “Anything small they’re going to go after.”

Police said the dogs are likely strays or were dumped in the area.

“They were relentless,” Williams said, adding that her goats’ necks were ripped up and their legs were gouged by the bites.

Williams said a neighbor down the road said the dogs had tried to get kittens on their property earlier that morning, too.

Tears gave way to anger by Thursday afternoon and Williams said she wanted the dogs dead.

One of the goats died immediately and another was put to sleep shortly after being taken to Greenville Veterinary Clinic, Williams said.

The property has a trailer, a chicken coop and goat pens near the tree line.

On Thursday afternoon, the goat carcasses were being burned in a funeral pyre in the backyard about the same time the last two animals were euthanized, Williams said.  

Williams said she and Steve Palmer, who live in Greenville, have nine acres on the country road and that the goats loved to eat poison ivy.

“They followed us everywhere,” she said.

One of the goats, a Nigerian dwarf goat named Daphne, was pregnant. Their other Nigerian was named Nelson and they had a fainting goat named Simon Cowell for his bovine markings and a rescue named Badger.

Williams said they were sweet animals and friends with the family dachshund. She said they don’t plan to get more goats.

“It’s too much,” she said of losing the pets so violently.

Marsha Viselli lives across the street and said she used to enjoy taking her grandson over to visit the goats.

“We all feel bad,” she said, noting that the goats never bothered anyone on the road that connects state Route 58 with Methodist Road and is partially dirt.

Williams and Palmer were camping in Ohio when their son, who lives on Log Cabin, called and said dogs got into the fence.

Police said area residents reported seeing the dogs running around the area recently and some have wondered if they were coyotes.

That doesn’t seem to be the case.

There are coyotes all over Mercer County, but the attack doesn’t match their profile, said Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officer Donald Chaybin.

Coyotes eat their prey and are stealthy while dogs will chase and kill wildlife “because it’s part of the game.”

About 1 p.m. Thursday, Chaybin said his office had not received any reports about the incident and said officials couldn’t determine anything without inspecting the bodies of the dead animals.

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