Dogs caught by SPCA after bunnies killed
Family whose rabbits died want canines' owners fined

David Carrigg, The Province
Published: Thursday, January 19, 2006

A Surrey family wants a hefty fine laid against the owners of two vicious dogs that yesterday mauled to death the family's pet rabbits.

"It looked awful. It hurt my heart," said Lisa Grimeau, who is deaf and spoke with The Province through her eldest daughter, Samantha.

Grimeau said she noticed the two dogs, a Rottweiler cross and German shepherd cross, in her back yard when she woke yesterday morning. The mother of six, whose husband Tim is also deaf, scared the dogs off by banging on the window.

However, when she went outside, she saw two of the family's four purebred pet rabbits dead in the yard.

The dogs got into the yard through a hole in the fence.

Grimeau said she called the local SPCA, which located the dogs at the nearby Green Timbers Elementary School.

The dogs were identified by the Grimeau family as those responsible for killing their floppy-eared mini-lop rabbits.

The SPCA took the dogs away. Their fate was not known last night.

The dogs had pushed up the chicken wire on the rabbit enclosure to get to the pets, said Grimeau.

"The SPCA officer said the dogs were friendly, not dangerous," Grimeau said. "But if they kill rabbits, couldn't they harm children?"

Samantha said her five younger siblings were devastated when they saw the rabbits -- Buddy, 3, and Fawn, 10 months -- dead in their back yard.

This is the second publicized situation in the past month where the SPCA has been called to deal with roaming dogs that have killed family pets.

On Christmas Eve, three pit bulls mauled a pet cat to death in North Vancouver after residents had complained about the dogs for months. One of the pit bulls was put down, another was stolen from the SPCA's Vancouver branch and the other was returned to its owner.

The Hughes family, which owned the dead cat, are upset that the third dog was returned, given the history of the dog.

Grimeau said she wants dog owners whose dogs go wandering to be penalized enough to make them deal with the situation.

The manager of the Surrey SPCA could not be reached for comment yesterday.

dcarrigg@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006