When marauding dogs attack

Four cats have been killed and two more injured by a pair of dogs that also might be responsible for a similar attack in Cheney in June.

According to reports from several residents in the area of Avalon Place, Golden Hills and Centennial Park, a pair of dogs described as “one large black and white and one black medium” have been seen in the neighborhood where residents’ dead cats began being reported Sept. 12.

One resident said she witnessed two dogs attack kill a cat on the corner of Sunrise Drive and North Eighth Street. The location is near where Cheney resident Kellie Yates reported in a June 22 Cheney Free Press story that two dark-colored dogs forced open a sliding glass door to her house, and subsequently chased her two cats, killing one.

In a Sept. 17 email, Cheney resident Joy Scott said her cat, Oscar, was “brutally murdered” on Friday, Sept. 15. Scott said the cat was found dead in their backyard and was taken to Blackhawk Veterinary where physicians confirmed the cat had been attacked by a large animal, grabbed in the middle and likely shaken to death.

Scott said she was told the attacking animal could not have been wild as a wild animal would have tried to eat Oscar, and “there was no sign of that.”

“I am sure Oscar felt both fear and pain,” Scott wrote.

Centennial Park area resident Lori Beedle said two men told her they witnessed two dogs matching the previous description attack and kill her cat the same day as the attack on Scott’s animal. Both men gave statements to a Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service officer who was in Cheney following up on the attack reports.

Beedle said all of the cats have been killed while in their owner’s yards with the exception of her’s, which was killed similar to Yates’ on June 22.

“Mine was killed in my house,” she said in a Sept. 19 interview.

Beedle said authorities have been able to identify where the alleged attacking dogs live. However, attempts to contact the homeowner have been unsuccessful and the dogs may now be located in an animal shelter in Idaho.

Beedle read a message one of the owners sent to the owner of a cat killed in Avalon Place, the report of which had been posted on Facebook.

“Dogs will be dogs,” Beedle read. “They chase cats, that’s what they do.”

Contacted Tuesday, Sept. 19, Kootenai Humane Society Director Debbie Jeffrey confirmed the dogs were at the facility in Hayden, Idaho. Jeffrey said she was investigating the incident, and had calls in to SCRAPS to find out more.

“They’re not up for adoption, they’re in isolation,” Jeffrey said. “Until I can get to the bottom of this, we can’t do anything with them.”

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].