Langley woman whose dog was killed by pit bulls wants tougher penalties for owners

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Editor’s note: This story contains details that may be upsetting to some readers. 

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — A Langley woman is pushing for stronger dangerous dog laws after she was pushed to the ground, and her chihuahua was killed by two larger dogs.

On July 15, Tricia Hill was taking her two-year-old dog Frankie on a walk around the block while she waited to pick up some take-out in the area of 202 Street and East 88 Avenue when she heard what sounded like chains dragging along the pavement and spotted two pit bulls.

“They were chained together to each other, but not tied up to anything else they didn’t have to pull away from anything,” she explains.

“I immediately picked up my dog, yanked him via his leash and picked him up and held him in a football hold and started running. I was pushed down from behind by both dogs and one of the dogs started pulling on my dog’s leash to loosen him from my grip. They finally got him out of my grip and started attacking him. At some point, after what felt like forever, I saw my dog on the ground. I immediately scooped him up again, and started running again. The exact same thing happened, they both pushed me down and start and just started attacking my dog again. It just went on forever, until my dog was dead and I just dropped him.”

Hill says she still doesn’t understand why no one — including the dogs’ owner — came to her aid.

“I was covered in blood. No one offered a blanket, no one offered anything,” she says.

“There was a bystander from a neighbouring condo that heard the commotion and came down. She graciously picked up my murdered Frankie and said I have your dog, ma’am. I wanted him to be alive so I went over to see him. I wish I didn’t.”

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The first step to preventing similarly devastating incidents, according to Hill, is stepping up bylaw enforcement. Langley’s animal control bylaws cover things such as leashing, muzzling, and outlines rules for classifying dogs as dangerous or aggressive, and guidelines for animal control officers to seize and ultimately return those animals.

“It starts with the bylaws being more strict and more enforceable — higher penalties for unleashed dogs and unmuzzled certain breeds all that stuff needs to happen. And then if incidents still happen like this, because of the owners’ negligence, then they need to be held accountable criminally and legally,” she says, adding what she wants is consequences for owners, not dogs.

“Dog owners in general, they need to be held, held accountable. I know there’s been cases of small dogs that have harmed people. It’s not just a dangerous breed issue it’s a dog owner’s issue.”

Hill has started a petition and a Facebook page pushing for legislation that would “bridges the gap between criminal law and animal control law.”

Hill says she was told the RCMP is not involved because the matter is not criminal.

The Langley Animal Protection Society was called in to investigate, which it is for all investigations of potential violations of animal control bylaws. The investigation is now over, although detailed findings could not be shared due to privacy concerns, NEWS 1130 was told that one dog was determined to be aggressive, and another dangerous and that “both dogs have not been returned to the owner.” The bylaw outlines different processes an owner must go through in order to have an animal returned once it has been determined to be aggressive or dangerous. A spokesperson confirmed there is no police investigation because there is no criminal law that was broken.

With files from Sonia Aslam

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