Photo of dog being mauled to death leads to charges.
‘JUST LIKE A KID’
A Toronto man has been charged after a heartwrenching photo allegedly showed the moment he gathered his four large dogs and hurried away from an arthritic 81- year- old man whose dachshund had just been mauled to death.
Police say Kiriakos Nendos was walking his four cane corso mastiffs without a leash in Centennial Park in western Toronto last Wednesday morning when they viciously attacked Dacky.
Kurt Haupt was putting his walking stick back in his car when he heard a shout. He turned around and four giant dogs were barrelling toward his dachshund.
“The first dog bit her in the back and she was dead right there,” Haupt said as he relayed the “very sad story” of the last 10 to 15 seconds of his companions’s life. “That’s all it took,” he said.
Haupt, who is childless and never married, said Dacky “was not just a dog. It was just like a kid.”
He first met Dacky when she was just two weeks old and barely the size of his palm. He returned to pick her up when she was about six weeks old and cared for and loved her for the next 14 years. “Every day was a new adventure” with Dacky, he said. “It was always a pleasure to walk that dog.”
He knew Dacky would eventually die, maybe in the next year or two, but he never imagined she would have such a tragic end. “Never in my wildest dreams,” he said. Now he is haunted by nightmares of the attack. “I’m never going to forget,” he said.
Scores of people have of- fered to help Haupt adopt a new pet, but he’s not ready, not yet.
What made the tragic mauling worse was that the owner of the killer dogs rounded up his animals and walked away “as fast as he could” as Haupt cradled his dying best friend in his arms.
The man “never, ever said a word,” Haupt said. He couldn’t catch up with the owner, thanks to an arthritic leg that slows him down.
A witness took a photo of the attack, which was shared on social media and helped Toronto police track down the owner of the alleged attack dogs. Police arrested Nendos, 46, at his parents’ Etobicoke home Tuesday.
Toronto Animal Services officers also seized five cane corso mastiffs — a mother and four younger dogs — from the home.
Nendos faces a charge of mischief for interfering with the lawful enjoyment of property. He has also been charged with failing to exercise reasonable precautions to prevent a dog from biting or attacking under Ontario’s Dog Owners’ Liability Act.
A judge will also rule on the fate of his five dogs, said Mary Lou Leiher at Toronto Animal Services. “The dogs are going to remain alive and well in our custody pending trial,” Leiher said. “If there’s a conviction, which we hope there will be, then there will be sentencing and that typically includes some sort of control order.”
The judge could decide that all or none of the dogs should be put down, or that the owner must take measures to control the dogs.
Haupt said he’s glad police have arrested the suspect and seized the dogs but “nothing will bring (Dacky) back.”