Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008

Stray dog kills family's cat north of Pasco

By Joe Chapman, Herald staff writer

The stray dog that Phil Schmitt spotted near his produce stand Monday morning seemed friendly enough, so it didn't occur to him that his boys or their pets might be in any danger.

But not long after Phil, his wife and their four boys opened up the stand, their cat Lucy was fatally attacked by the dog, which Phil suspects was dumped off the previous night. Complaints of animal dumping are common in rural parts of Benton and Franklin counties, where animal control service doesn't extend.

The Schmitts have rented the property at Road 68 and Powerline Road just outside Pasco city limits for about a month and a half. They plan to operate a 10-acre corn maze and a six-acre pumpkin farm with hay rides and piglet races there this fall.

The boys' three pets -- a border collie pup named Rex, a pygmy goat named Minus, and Lucy, a gray cat one of the boys described as "part kitten, part fully grown" -- are part of the charm of the country setting, Phil said.

He said he first noticed the stray dog, a female Labrador mix, about 7:30 a.m. in the cornfield at the edge of the parking lot, wet and shivering from the irrigation sprinklers. She seemed scared, so Phil brought her over to where his wife and kids were opening the produce stand for the day so they could feed and water her.

"We approached her this morning, wagging her tail, and she was kind and sweet. And then she just saw the cat and went into dog mode," Phil said.

Phil was at the bank when the attack happened, but his wife, Marissa, was at the produce stand with the boys. She didn't witness it either, but rushed to see what was happening when she heard the boys shriek.

Tyler, 11, said he saw the dog with Lucy in her mouth, violently shaking the cat. He yelled at the dog and kicked her in the tail to get her to let go.

When Phil returned from the bank, everyone was crying, he said. Marissa and the boys later made a trip to the animal hospital with the cat and the dog.

The vet found a microchip in the dog and contacted the person she was registered to. But that person said he had given the dog away a few weeks ago to someone he didn't know, and he couldn't help locate the new owner.

But the Schmitts have a hard time accepting that.

"There's an owner here in town, and he won't even come get her," Phil said. "He said he had just given her away to Walla Walla? Well, he can come and get her and put another ad in the paper. But he didn't make any offer with the vet to come do that."

The rest of Monday the dog sat in a kennel, panting and looking as if she wanted to be petted. The Schmitts occasionally let her out on a leash to feed her and let her do her business, but she spent Monday night back in the kennel.

In the meantime, they don't know what they're going to do with the dog. Phil said he thought the dog would make a good pet for someone -- even someone with kids -- as long as they didn't have any cats.

The Schmitts can be contacted at the produce stand by calling 528-0880.

The Benton Franklin Humane Society isn't an option for them because the nonprofit organization doesn't accept animals whose histories are unknown.

Franklin County doesn't provide animal control service, but it does have a contract with Angela Zilar, poundmaster for the Tri-Cities, to pick up dangerous dogs that are reported to the sheriff's office.

"Most of the time you think of dangerous dogs, you think of aggression toward a person," Sheriff Richard Lathim said. "But it also includes (aggression toward) domestic animals -- livestock or other animals."

The Schmitts didn't contact the sheriff's office Monday.

The cat's fate, however, already was determined Monday. Lucy had broken ribs and internal injuries that the Schmitts couldn't afford to have treated. So Phil took Lucy out into the cornfield and put her down himself.

"I grew up on a farm, and that's just how we do it when animals are in pain," he said. "Just take care of it ourselves."

Phil told the boys the cat was going to heaven and that seemed to help them deal with their grief, he said.

But Tyler knew he wouldn't forget what happened.

"When school starts, I'm going to have a bad story to tell," Tyler said.