Pit bulls maul dog to death in Eastpoint

            Two Eastpoint dogs were seized following a lethal attack on a family pet last month.

            As a result, one was euthanized, and the owner of the second dog issued several citations.

            On Oct. 15, after the sheriff’s office received a call around 7 p.m., Officer Donnie Segree was dispatched to John Joe Polous’ home at 564 Ridge Road.

            According to Segree’s report, Polous’ neighbor, Dallas Gilbert, led the officer to a dog fight, where two pit bulls apparently had attacked a yellow lab mix on Polous’ property.

            Polous said that when he arrived home, he screamed at the pit bulls to release the lab, which was his dog, and ran next door. Segree reported the lab mix had multiple bite marks, was unable to rise off the ground, and subsequently died.

            Polous said Segree observed, but did not intervene, during the dog fight.

            “By the time I got there and got the dogs off him, my dog, Junior, was purple in the mouth. I called him and he crawled to me but he was lying in a pool of blood,” Polous said. “They didn’t even take a picture of him. I had an old camera. I did that.

            “They could have stopped the dogs,” contended Polous. “I think it was Donnie’s duty to try and stop them.

            “I got my dog when he was just a ball of fur. My niece brought him up there. Her daddy wouldn’t let her have him. She brought him to Uncle Johnny,” Polous said.

            “My big red lab Daisy raised him; he was about 3 years old when this happened. A rooster took up at my house. I’d feed Junior and the rooster at the same time and they got to be friends,” he said. “The rooster is still there but Junior’s gone and I miss him.”

            Segree wrote that he called Animal Control Officer William Key and asked him to come and seize the pit bulls but Key informed him that he was unable to respond until the next morning.

            In a later interview, Animal Control Officer Albert Floyd said the sheriff has Floyd’s cell phone number on file. Floyd said he will respond, at any time, to an emergency call such as a dog fight in progress. He said that although the animal control budget is limited, he is reimbursed for night and evening calls with comp time.

            Segree’s report identifies the owners of the two pit bulls as R.K. “Bubba” Sanders and Christopher Dowden.

            Dowden told police his dog had slipped the chain. He said he now resides at a house at the corner of Third St. and US 98 in Eastpoint and that he had left his dog on Ridge Road until he had an opportunity to come back and move it.

            Sanders told police he left his dog tied up on Ridge Road and called animal control to come and retrieve it because he had moved to a new residence where dogs were not allowed. He said animal control had not responded.

            Floyd said animal control had not been contacted by Sanders.

            Van Johnson, director of animal control, said it is illegal to abandon a dog, and that it was possible Dowden’s dog was cared for by a relative who lived on Ridge Road.

            On Oct. 16, Sanders released his dog to animal control and it was immediately euthanized.

            Dowden’s pit bull was seized but he retrieved it from the pound after paying an impoundment fee of $25. He was given citations totaling $75 for allowing a dog to run at large, causing a nuisance and not having a rabies tag.

            Floyd said that Dowden either can pay the fees or contest them in court. If he takes the case to court, a judge could fine him as much as $500 for each of the three infractions. “He’d be crazy to take it to court,” Floyd said.

            Johnson said Dowden’s dog could not be held or euthanized by the county because this was its first known attack on another animal.

            Polous said Sanders’ pit bull had attacked his dog in the past. He said Dowden later came to his home to apologize for the attack.

            “Both of those dogs were left by owners who had moved,” said Polous. “I don’t think that’s right. People turn them loose to run around in their yards. That’s not right. I don’t think people should ride them around in the back of a truck without a cage.”

            Polous said he has been told by others that Sanders’ pit bull was not, in fact, euthanized, and doesn’t believe the dog is dead. “I believe they should have done something,” he said. “I don’t believe they should have let my dog die like that.”