Kalihiwai resident Becky Swan said Wednesday that she’s afraid to keep pets at her home now, due to the near-fatal mauling of her horse Monday. Swan and her husband, Bill Gillette, who live on a seven-acre parcel near Kalihiwai Ridge,
Kalihiwai resident Becky Swan said Wednesday that she’s afraid to keep pets at her home now, due to the near-fatal mauling of her horse Monday.
Swan and her husband, Bill Gillette, who live on a seven-acre parcel near Kalihiwai Ridge, nearly lost their 8-year-old Appaloosa, Meha, when a pack of about 15 dogs came onto their property, went through a fence, and attacked.
“It was a crazy, wild scene. It was like a shark film,” Gillette said. “I kicked a couple of them and they would roll, get up, run right past me and go right for it.”
Luckily, a concerned citizen, who has not been identified, pulled out a shotgun, killed one of the pack, and the other dogs ran off.
The horse suffered some deep gashes to the stomach and legs, and has been moved to another location since the attack.
“It could’ve been totally different in a matter of seconds,” said Gillette. “They were ready to take the horse down.
“Thank God, the guy came with the gun,” he said. “They could’ve turned on me.”
According to county officials, a local hunter came forward to claim the dogs and was cited by police.
Swan said a neighbor had granted the hunter permission to hunt feral pigs on her land.
“The reality is we have small children in the neighborhood,” said Swan. “Children were playing within feet of where the attack took place within an hour” of the incident.
“We can’t even be safe on my own property,” said Swan. “I think it’s more of people not realizing the seriousness of dogs.
“People don’t feel something bad can happen,” she said. “It does repeatedly. This could’ve been prevented.”
Swan, who has lost cats from local dogs, and had another horse survive a dog attack a year ago, said it’s “terrifying” the possibilities of hunting dogs in residential neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Gillette said he’s just glad the horse, which is taking antibiotics to treat the wounds, survived.
“I kicked a couple of them and it didn’t even phase them,” he said. “I was kicking, hollering, screaming at them. I was trying to save the horse’s life.”
“You can hunt with them, but have them under control. It wasn’t good judgment,” said Gillette. “This could’ve happened to any animal. Who knows?”
Gillette said he had just driven up his driveway around 5:20 p.m. Monday, when he saw two dogs circling the corral.
“The mix-breed pitbull-types” fought through the “hogwire around the pen,” he said. “It was just brute force that they pushed through.”
With minutes nearly a dozen more dogs showed up from a nearby ravine. Gillette said he entered the pen after the first few dogs started to attack. He said he left the gate open to let the horse run free. But instead the trailing dogs ran through and started to attack.
No hunter ever showed to fend the dogs off the horse.
After about ten minutes, Gillette said, the passerby came onto the scene. He pulled out a shotgun and put one of the dogs down. Most of the other dogs took off after hearing the shot. But a few stuck around after the attack, until Gillette shooed them away, he said.
“It’s a shame it happened,” that the dog was shot, Gillette said, “but if it wasn’t shot,” the horse would be dead.
“The thing is if they’re pig dogs, they’re trained to kill,” he added. “That’s exactly what they do.”
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252)
