Point Reyes Light - July 26, 2001
Pit bull violence increasing in Bolinas
By Dave Mitchell & Barbara E. Thomas
A pit bull savagely attacked three horses at Vanishing Point Ranch in Bolinas last week, tearing a chunk of flesh from one mare’s face and slashing the face of a second mare.
The third mare was not injured, said ranch owner Sally Peacock. Both of the injured horses, which were at least 20 years old, were treated by Point Reyes Station veterinarian Bruce Daniels, who stitched and stapled the wound on one mare’s face.
The incident was only one of six dog attacks in the Bolinas-Stinson area reported to The Light this past week.
A couple of days before the July 17 attack on the horses, the same dog attacked beef cattle a quarter mile from Vanishing Point Ranch. Cattle owner Ernie Tacherra said he himself did not witness the attack, but a neighbor claimed "we could see the cows running all over the fields." Tacherra said none of the cattle were injured.
One owner of the pit bull reportedly acknowledged to other townspeople that their dog had carried out the attack.
Pit bulls attack deer
On Tuesday of this week, a person on Bolinas Beach at 8 a.m. saw two pit bulls chase a doe and fawn into the water, then jump on their backs and kill them. The person, who asked not to be identified, told The Light the dogs were unaccompanied and appeared to come from the Mesa.
A sheriff’s deputy and a Humane Society investigator were later called to the scene, and a Human Society spokesman on Wednesday said it was the investigator’s opinion that the two deer, whose back legs were broken, had not been mauled but had merely fallen off a cliff. In any case, the deer were put to death.
Pet rabbits killed
In yet another incident, Suzanne Bartlome of Hawthorne Road, who raises rabbits in Bolinas, reported that two weeks ago a dog tore its way into three cages and pulled the rabbits out, killing seven.
Two does were mauled, and "the babies were just lying all over – chewed up," Bartlome said. "It was pretty shocking. There was blood everywhere, and my grandchildren discovered it."
In yet another incident that occurred Monday, Bolinas resident Alex Horvath said a mastiff on Brighton Avenue attacked a female friend. Although the dog went for her jugular vein, the owner made only a feeble attempt to get the dog off her, Horvath said. His friend estimated the dog’s weight at 150 pounds.
Pit bulls in Bolinas
Horvath, who is also a tenant of Bartlome, on Wednesday noted there have always been street dogs in Bolinas, but "now it’s out of hand. Everybody’s getting pit bulls too."
Why? "They’re cute when they’re puppies," replied Horvath, "but they’re a dangerous dog." The problem, however, will not be easy for Bolinas to solve. "I love the fact that Bolinas lets their dogs run free," Bartlome noted. "Bob Dylan said, ‘Dogs run free. Why can’t we?’"
Cat killed in Stinson
Meanwhile over in Stinson Beach, a beachgoer’s loose dog attacked two of Light photographer Clint Graves’ cats on Sunday and killed one of them.
But by far the worst incident was the attack on the horses at Vanishing Point Ranch off Poplar Road in Bolinas.
The attack occurred July 17 just before 4 p.m. when Camille Dancer was walking a pit bull named Hector on Popular Road and had let it off its leash.
The dog charged across a field to where Peacock had just finished giving a riding class to five children eight to 12 years old. Hector attacked an Appaloosa named River, a bay mare named Rosie, and a chestnut Arabian, which suffered little damage.
The dog managed to corner the horses and repeatedly bit River and Rosie on their faces even though the mares were kicking violently and several times sent the dog flying. Despite the kicks, however, Hector refused to give up his attack, Peacock said.
Horses kicking pit bull didn’t stop dog
"He was leaping at their throats and legs and faces," she said. "They had their heads down [and] were striking [the dog] with their front legs. They rolled the dog over several times."
At one point, Peacock added, the dog "was even caught in their legs. River kicked him squarely in the head."
She estimated the attack went on for five to 10 minutes. Finally, Dancer was able to contain her pit bull and agreed to let Peacock lock it in a vented horse trailer until the Humane Society arrived."
When it was over, Rosie’s mouth "looked like hamburger," Peacock said, while River had an inch-deep a slit near her mouth and a puncture wound between her nostrils.
Although the Humane Society was initially reluctant to respond to the scene because the dog had been captured, an official did pick up the dog at the insistence of sheriff’s deputy Rich Sheldon. Hector was held in the Humane Society shelter overnight and released to its owners the next day.
Peacock said it was her impression that Dancer had been given the pit bull a month ago by someone in Napa County and now intends to return the dog.
Dangerous-dog hearing set
Meanwhile, the ranch owner has filed a complaint against the dog, and a "potentially dangerous animal hearing" will be held, said Humane Society spokeswoman Marissa Miller. Because of the attack on the Tacherra cattle, "it does have a prior history, and that will be looked at at the hearing." She estimated an adult pit bull’s weight at about 100 pounds, adding, "Pit bulls are pretty sturdy."
Could Hector be put to death? "We determine the dog’s future as necessary at the hearing," she answered. However, she said, she does not know if a hearing will be held if Hector returns to Napa.
Reporter Simone Garrigues contributed to this article.