Thursday, May 21, 2009

Florida: Victim Relives Terrible Pit Bull Attack. One pet killed, another injured and the owner's face mangled

FLORIDA -- A Victoria Park woman who was the victim of a horrific pit bull attack that killed one dog and left her and another dog injured is speaking out about her terrible ordeal.

Kailen Gonzalez, sporting nasty cuts and bruises on her face from the attack, told how the pit bulls relentlessly went after her and her pets on Wednesday night.

"They literally, we pulled them off, they went back, pulled them off, they came back," Gonzalez said. "They had collars on, the collars were pulled off their heads. Just nothing stopped them."

Gonzalez, 25,  was taking her Jack Russell terrier, Milo, and a friend's Silky terrier named Bella out for a walk when two pit bulls came charging out of a nearby back yard.

After a terrifying struggle, Bella was dead and Milo seriously injured. Witnesses said the pit bulls, identified as a male and female named Bobby and Shelbi, were relentless in their attack.

"I saw what those dogs did to that woman...a little child, not to mention an adult, anyone would have no chance whatsoever," said neighbor Debbie London.

Though it's illegal to own pit bulls in Miami, they're not illegal in Broward County, though attacks like these may be changing peoples' minds.

Neighbors of the pit bulls, which reportedly belong to 53-year-old Katarzyna Zalewski and her husband Marek Zalewski, said they've filed several complaints against Zalewski, and they say it's not the dogs that are the problem, it's the owners.

"We were very uncomfortable as a matter of fact. Afterwards we actually went and spoke to the cops to make sure the dogs would be removed from the premises," said one concerned neighbor. "We walk our dogs everyday and we don't want to risk that happening to us."

Officials are still investigating the incident, and the fate of the two pit bulls is unknown, but the scars on Gonzalez and little Milo will take some time to heal.

"There's no way you can ever compare a pit bull to my Jack Russell. I mean, my Jack Russell would never do that to another dog, to a squirrel, to a mouse," Gonzalez said.

(NBC Miami - May 21, 2009)