FLORIDA -- One thought raced through Susanne Tenney's mind as two pit bulls attacked her in an Oakland Park neighborhood Monday - she had to protect her dog.
The animals surprised her as she walked Zydeco, her 11-year-old greyhound, through the intersection of Northeast Second Terrace and 53rd Court.
Tenney jumped on her pet to shield her, but the pit bulls mauled the dog, which later had to be euthanized. Tenney and a man who tried to stop the attack were also hurt.
"They were biting us everywhere. They were too quick," said Tenney, 45, of Northeast Fourth Terrace.
The pit bulls escaped through a gap in the fence of a nearby yard, said Andrea Voss, a spokeswoman for Broward Animal Care and Regulation.
"I heard a loud scream, and I knew something was wrong when I went to check it out," said John Clark, 55, who lives a few houses away from the intersection.
Clark said it was pure instinct that drove him to help Tenney by fighting off the dogs with his bare hands. He yanked away one of the dogs, a tan male, but the other turned and bit him. Every time he tried to subdue one, the other would bite.
"It felt like I was there 50 minutes," Clark said. "They were biting me hard, but I knew if I let them go, they'd turn around and bite the lady."
Other neighbors rushed to the scene, one carrying a bat and another carrying a sledgehammer, Clark said, though they didn't get to use them.
Clark lifted the male pit bull by the collar and pinned him down, giving one of the neighbors time to tie its legs with a clothesline, he said.
The other dog, a tan and white female, ran back to its owner's house.
Officers from the Broward Sheriff's Office and Animal Care and Regulation captured the dogs soon after arriving at the scene.
A police report said the dogs belonged to Maria Giannelli, 39, who lives with her family near the end of Northeast Second Terrace. She could not be reached for comment Monday.
An ambulance took Clark to North Ridge Medical Center, in Oakland Park, but Tenney refused to be treated there. She took Zydeco to Hollywood Animal Hospital on a blanket provided by one of the neighbors and then went to Holy Cross Hospital to have her own injuries treated. The dog's injuries were severe, and Zydeco had to be euthanized.
"My dog's not with me anymore," Tenney said, a large bandage on her face and her hands covered in gauze. "I never thought this was how I was going to lose her."
The pit bulls were taken to an animal shelter where they will be quarantined for 10 days before they're euthanized, Voss said.
(Sun Sentinel - October 23, 2007)
