IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Residents in Imperial Beach are frustrated after they say loose dogs in the area have gone on a killing spree, forcing multiple pet owners to bury their cats.
Camellia Vecchione secured her gate with additional bungee cords to protect her cats from being killed, but the extra safety measures didn’t stop her cats from dying.
“They still managed to get in,” Vecchione said.
She got her cats Grey Skull, Slyvester, and One Eye when she moved into her Imperial Beach home in 2012.
“When I first met them they were suckling from their mother, and I was pregnant with my first child as well, so it was a very tender moment to see that and I welcomed them,” she recalled.
At the end of February, she remembers getting her kids ready for school
“I smelled something in the air,” she said. “It smelled disgusting. It smelled like death,” Vecchione said.
That’s when she found two of the cats dead where they slept every night.
“I saw their bodies. They were bloodied. They were covered in dog saliva, and it was traumatizing for me,” she explained.
As a certified vet assistant, she says she identified canine bite marks on her pets and a week later on March 9, she says her third cat, One Eye, met the same fate.
“Not only are my animals not safe, but I have to question if my children are safe,” she said.
Just a few streets down that same weekend Richard Ryan says he also found his cat dead.
“He wasn’t just an animal. He was a friend,” he said about his cat, Sebastian.
Chula Vista Animal Services confirmed three cats were killed on March 9 after they received calls about two dogs on the loose.
“I go ‘Ah, man. What about Sebastian?’ and I turn around and saw him laying down over there, and I go ‘God dangit,’” Ryan said, recalling the moment he found Sebastian dead after learning his neighbor’s cat was also killed.
“The dogs were impounded. The owners were fined and were required to secure the fence and property before the dogs could be returned. The dogs were returned on March 11,” Ashley Milo, the assistant director for Chula Vista Animal Services, said in a statement.
But Ryan says he’s still concerned for the safety of the neighborhood children.
“I’ve been up since two o’clock, making sure that they’re not out here, running around again,” he said.
On Sunday, Chula Vista Animal Services says they received a call about loose dogs in the area, but they did not find the animals.
“A fine isn’t going to stop the murders that are happening,” Vecchione said.
Neighbors says they want to see these dogs removed from the area, and the city says they’re continuing to monitor and actively investigate this situation.
