Another small dog has been killed in what the dog’s owner describes an unprovoked attack by an off-leash animal, this time in Toronto’s west end.
Christopher Vieira Loreto, 30, says he was walking his chihuahua Guizmo in front of Lamport Stadium last Thursday morning when a larger, unleashed dog attacked his beloved pet and killed it.
He says the woman who owns the dog ran off.
Mixed breed
The killer dog is described as a mixed breed, fawn-coloured, about 50 or 60 pounds.
Vieira Loreto, who is French and who has only been in Toronto a few months, took his dog and ran for help to the Pet Valu store at King and Dufferin.
Staff there helped him call 311 and Toronto Animal Services and found an emergency vet who could see the dog.
But Guizmo was so badly hurt he had to be euthanized.
A distraught Vieira Loreto said Monday that he has heard nothing from police or animal services since the incident happened. And he’s upset about that.
However, the Parkdale community and an ad-hoc network of animal lovers got to work on Facebook to help find the killer dog.
“The woman has been seen in Coronation Park, camping with her dog,” said Vieira Loreto.
“The dog looks dangerous, barking at other dogs, and it is malnourished.”
It is believed the owner is experiencing homelessness.
Vieira Loreto said that at the time his dog was killed, other people helped him and some took pictures of the attacking dog and its owner.
Later in the day
“She just flipped them off and fled. I couldn’t do anything. She fled. She knew she was in big trouble. To find her is very complicated,” Vieira Loreto said.
But other people claim they did find her, and posted pictures on Facebook, and Vieira Loreto is concerned about the amount of time that’s passing with nothing being done about the dog.
Laura, a co-manager at the Parkdale Pet Valu, was at work when Vieira Loreto ran in with his badly wounded dog.
Laura said “the dog was bleeding profusely and struggling to breath, and a puncture wound was visible in his front armpit.”
Laura and the staff helped Vieira Loreto, found him a vet and a taxi to get there, and hoped for the best.
Later in the day he returned to say Guizmo was dead.
At that point, they helped him file the appropriate reports and paperwork.
“The dog who attacked is a mixed breed, maybe Lab and Shepherd,” said Laura. “Very skinny.”