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Dogs that attacked couple will be killed
LANGLEY: Owner of two bull mastiffs faces $50 fine

Ethan Baron
The Province

January 16, 2005

Two bull mastiffs that attacked a couple out for a walk in Langley have been seized by animal-control officers and will be killed tomorrow.

"The attack was relentless," said senior animal-control officer Darcy Devos of the Langley Animal Protection Society.

Society animal-control manager Sean Baker added that the mastiffs, a 55-kilogram male and 40-kg female, "were obviously exhibiting some sort of predatory behaviour."

"The dogs are a threat to the public."

The animals had escaped through a fenced yard's open gate and were in the vicinity of their yard when the couple walked by.

"We saw a dog come out of a driveway and another come out of the bushes," the male victim said in his statement to animal-control officers. "Their heads were down and their teeth were bared. I put my girlfriend behind me and the tan dog jumped at her. I kicked it in the mouth and the dark one hit me in the stomach. [My girlfriend] fell to the ground and the dogs jumped on her. I grabbed them and threw them off.

"The dark one grabbed her by the leg, pulled her, and I kicked it in the ribs. Then the tan dog started biting my arm and my girlfriend crawled away. The dark dog grabbed my arm. I fell down, got back up. I kneed the dark dog in the belly.

"I still had the tan dog on my right arm and I grabbed it with my left arm, picked it up and ran about 10 feet and slammed it into the hood of a car. That is when the dogs left."

The 10:30 p.m. attack Thursday left the victims, in their 20s, with deep lacerations and puncture wounds. The man suffered injuries to his arms and the woman to her legs. Both were treated at hospital and released and are now under the care of their doctors, Baker said.

The dogs clearly intended to inflict serious injury and the woman told animal-control officers she believes the dogs might have killed her if her boyfriend hadn't been there to help, Devos said.

A few days before the attack, Langley Animal Protection received a complaint about one of the dogs being at large, Devos said.

Also, a neighbour told investigators that another neighbour had once gone into the dogs' house after hearing "blood-curdling" screams, and found the dogs fighting in front of hysterical children with no adults in the home.

Criminal charges against the owner are possible, said Langley RCMP

Cpl. Dale Carr. The dogs' owner will be cited for having his animals at large, a bylaw violation carrying a $50 fine, Devos said.