
The City of Kamloops is still investigating a fatal dog attack that left a 12-year-old Collie named “Heidi” dead early Sunday morning.
Community Services Manager Will Beatty says the three pit bull-type dogs are alleged to have jumped over a fence and attacked the collie in its own backyard on Richmond Avenue just after 6 a.m., Sept. 8, before fleeing by jumping the fence again.
Beatty told Radio NL that the three dogs suspected in the attack are still alive and in the custody of the City’s Community Services Officers.
“The dogs returned likely to their residence and at the request of the CSOs with the dog owner, they were surrendered,” Beatty said. “The address itself is known to CSOs.”
“Part of a routine investigation like this would look like attendance to vets, toxicology reports, as well as the deceased animal itself being review by a vet and a report to suggest how the deceased animal died.”
Beatty also says the three animals were surrendered by their owner, who could be facing more sanctions, pending the outcome of the investigation.
“The officer will follow up with any findings if there are violations for either dogs at large, if there are more sanctions that have to be put in place based on the dog responsibility bylaw,” he said.
“We’ll be contact with the dog owner itself. We’re working with the deceased dog owner as well.”
At this time, it is not clear how long the investigation may take or whether the three dogs will be put down.
“It’s a very traumatic, tragic incident that occurred, and we want to make sure that the public is safe,” Beatty said. “And if the dogs that allegedly did the attack are in our care and control, we feel that the public is safe. We won’t release the dogs if they happen to be aggressive.”
Beatty says people who have had incidents with either of the three pit bulls in the past should report those details to CSOs as quickly as possible.
“If there were reports of that on social media, I would definitely encourage folks to call it in to Community Services, even if it is a bit of a late report,” he said.
“If there is evidence to suggest that these dogs are aggressive, they’re not dogs that we want in our community, and we’re very keen on making sure that the decisions that are made are made by experts.”