Dog owner: ‘They were just taking turns shaking him around’
Erin Clarke got her chihuahua Thor in 2011 to help cope with her father’s death.
A few days ago the beloved pet was snatched from her arms and killed by two of three large dogs who came charging at her at the leash-free park on Port Colborne’s Elm Street.
It was Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. and she was taking Thor and her other dog of the same breed, Bandit, for a walk along area trails, where dogs are required to be leashed. It was earlier in her daily routine because she had plans to head out of town to go trick-ortreating with her granddaughter.
Taking a turn to start heading toward her car, three large canines, possibly two pitbulls and an American bulldog, with no owner in site, ran towards her and her two dogs, pulling Thor out of her arms and attacking him right in front of her after she picked both of them up.
Two of the charging animals each had him by the head at one point.
“They were just taking turns shaking him around,” she said emotionally Saturday afternoon at her home.
“It wasn’t a nice sight,” she said, holding Bandit closely to her.
As the dogs continued to injure Thor, the owner of the three dogs came running down the trail, screaming for them to let go.
“He was kicking them and swearing to get them away,” she said.
Seeing the lacerations Thor had suffered were severe, she knew he needed immediate attention.
“I was at my car, crying with my dog in my arm,” she said about the moment when the other dog owner, now sought by Welland and District Humane Society, approached her and promised to meet her at the local vet clinic on Elm Street.
He never showed up, something she is deeply troubled by.
“If I say something to someone, I want them to take my word,” she said.
An animal lover her whole life, Clarke said she doesn’t want to see anyone’s pet harmed, but does feel the two dogs that killed Thor, especially one with black and white markings, should be put down.
Their elusive owner also needs to be held accountable.
“At the end of the day, he’s the one that’s responsible — not the dogs,” she said.
Police have been contacted but the humane society is leading the investigation.
“I really hope something is done,” said Clarke, who described Thor as her “little saviour” that was there for her about the time her father died seven years ago.
Clarke was unharmed in the ordeal. Bandit did receive a large cut on his side.
The owner of the three largebreed dogs is described as white, 35 to 45 years old, clean-shaven, 5-foot-6, and was wearing blue jeans and a blue windbreaker. He may be walking with a limp as a result of a fall he took while running toward the scene.
One dog has brindle markings, another is white with black ears and spots on its body and the third is all black. The vehicle he fled in is a white Buick SUV.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Welland SPCA animal control office at 905-7351552 ext. 2.