JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Just one day after News4JAX aired the story about a pack of dogs terrorizing the neighborhood in two Arlington apartment complexes, animal control located the dogs’ owner and caught two of the dogs.
Residents at the Oak Hammock Apartment complex and the Oakwood Villa complex spoke out about the loose dogs that were caught on camera attacking -- and killing -- pets.
Karen Harrel said she lost seven of her cats to the vicious attacks. Others said they witnessed the dogs attack people and children.
The residents believed the dogs came from a house nearby.
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Jacksonville Animal Control Chief Michael Bricker said the video footage helped officers identify the two dogs and track down the owner.
“He didn’t work with us. But we were able to work with the owner of the property to identify that those two dogs were not dogs that person who lived at the property wanted to keep any longer and those were the two dogs in question,” Bricker told News4JAX.
We learned that the dogs came from a house next to the Oak Hammock Apartments.
“I had two dogs then my friend dropped his dogs off and I got stuck with them. I didn’t know it would be drug out this long. Someone should have told me about the situation. They get out, and I worry about what’s going on,” the dogs’ owner, who said he didn’t want to be identified, said.
He said he didn’t realize his dogs were caught on multiple videos attacking cats that belonged to Harrel.
“He came over today and offered his apology for what happened and claimed he didn’t know what his dogs were doing. I told him an apology is really hard for us to accept because of the amount of loss we suffered in a short amount of time,” Harrel said.
Animal Control was not able to remove all the dogs from this property because they said they couldn’t positively identify the remaining dogs as the same attack animals in the video.
“I do think this issue is resolved but we are not done with this case. There are some things that we need to address with the owner for sure,” Bricker said.
The owner said he has two of the remaining dogs and will take more responsibility for them.
“I will have to bring them out on a leash from now on. They’re not going to be able to just hang out anymore,” he said.
Harrel said she is satisfied that animal control stepped in to make the neighborhood safe again.
“I’m very happy that animal control finally took some to give us peace of mind and security. Our animals may be safe now and the kids and adults may also be safe,” she said.
The case is under investigation.
Depending on the investigation outcome, the owner could face a citation or criminal charges.