Authorities seek dogs in fatal puppy mauling

A Roseville woman’s young pet dog is dead after it was attacked by another dog Monday.

Now, she and the neighbors who came to her rescue during the fatal nighttime dog attack will have to go through a painful series of rabies shots if the stray dogs involved in incident are not found, according to Chief Jeff Randazzo of Macomb County Animal Control.

“It’s very bothersome to me, when people take their dogs for a walk and this kind of tragedy happens,” Randazzo said. “Whoever the owner is — you need to come forward.”

If not the owner of the stray dogs then anyone who might be able to identify the canines in question. The incident happened around 6:20 p.m. on Frazho Road at Kathy Street, between Hayes Road and Gratiot Avenue.

According to authorities, the woman, 45, was walking her dog when she was viciously attacked by two dogs running loose. A couple of neighbors who witnessed the incident jumped in to assist the woman and her dog— one of them using a wrench to keep the biting dogs at bay— but during the attack all three were bitten.

When police arrived at the scene, the discovered the woman on the ground suffering from numerous bite wounds to her arms and legs, police said in a news release. Shewas transported to an area hospital for treatment of her injuries, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Her dog, a 10-month-old beagle named Bella, was found nearby deceased from the attack.

Witnesses described the aggressor dogs as one being a large stocky black pit bull type dog with a white chest, weighing about 120 pounds, and the other a smaller reddish brown pit bull-type dog, weighing about 60 pounds.

“The victims are currently undergoing very painful post-exposure rabies treatment, but unfortunately a 10-month-old beagle lost its life,” Randazzo said.

Rabies is a deadly virus spread to people fromthe saliva of infected animals. The rabies virus is usually transmitted through a bite. Animals most likely to transmit rabies in the United States include bats, coyotes, foxes, raccoons and skunks. However, it is not uncommon for dogs to carry the virus as well.

Randazzo said he and Roseville police officers were out most of the night and first thing Tuesday morning looking for the stray dogs but were unable to located them. He believes the owners have located and sequestered them indoors.

Randazzo said animal control’s goal at this point is to find the dogs, which are likely to have visible injuries from the attack, and determine their rabies status so the victims do not have to complete the series of shots administered after a person is attacked by a rabid animal.

“It’s very painful,” Randazzo said, of the shots given on the first day of exposure followed by day 3, 7, and 14th day.

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to contact Roseville police at 586-775-2100 or Macomb County Animal Control at 586-469-5115.

“We are hoping that someonemay have images or videos that may have been captured on various security systems (such as Ring doorbell) to help us clearly identify the dogs involved,” Randazzo said, in a Facebook post. “The focus of this post is solely on identifying where the dogs reside so we can help prevent this from happening in the future not to create a debate regarding breed.”

Police Chief Ryan Monroe said the action of the two residents who quickly came to the aid of the victim and her dog, a 69-year-old man and 32-year-old female, both residents of Roseville, prevented the incident from being a “bigger tragedy.” He said both declined medical treatment.