What to Know
- The owner of a dog that attacked two other pups said the animal was being rehabilitated and that "she was completely mistreated"
- Neighbors, meanwhile, say the dog is vicious and that they are passing around a petition to have the dog removed from the neighborhood
- Animal Control and Care says the animal is being quarantined for observation
The owner of a Queens dog that attacked other dogs twice in one month -- killing another pup in one instance -- says he is working on rehabilitating the animal.
The owner, who asked not to be named, told News 4 on Friday that the pit bull that killed another dog in late April was a rescue from Animal Control and Care and that he and his family were working to train the dog, which is now back in animal control's care.
"She was completely mistreated," he said. "We were giving her love."
But neighbors along Alstyne Avenue in Corona have been circulating a petition to keep the dog out and are worried that the pup will again be returned to its owner by the city.
In the first attack -- in April -- a 72-year-old woman said she was walking her dog when two unleashed pit bulls ran from a nearby home. The woman said in Spanish that the pit bull attacked her first, which forced her to let go of Bobby.
Cellphone video shows the horrifying scene play out in Corona as the owner sought safety in a nearby yard off camera. The woman who lives in the Alstyne Avenue house where the dogs lived is seen trying to separate the dogs, then turning on a neighbor who was trying to stop the dogs with a baseball bat.
"One of the gentlemen out here had a bat and was going to try to hit him, and the girl said 'No, if you hit him, I'm going to kill you, you don't touch my dog,'" a neighbor said.
Then on Memorial Day, a similar scene played out just a block away. Jerry Torres said three pit bulls -- one of them the same one from the April attack -- attacked his small dog and then bit him when he tried to intervene.
Torres said he reported it to Animal Care Center, and the agency told him "there was an incident prior to that and that same dog was involved in that."
"The owner just let the dog escape," said Torres. "Forget about it being a dog or myself, it could have attacked a kid."
The dog's owner said "it was an accident" when asked about the attacks.
Animal control returned both dogs after the first attack under condition that the owner got the two dogs trained; the dog of the second attack was taken back in by animal control, which said the animal "has been quarantined for rabies observation and case assessment."
