For the southsiders (STT) who won't leash their dogs

I'm so sorry for the loss of your cat. That's horrible for you and your family.

My heartfelt sorrow goes out to you and your family on the loss of your cat. This cruel, senseless, and irresponsible act is incomprehensible.
Nothing like this should ever happen.
Swan

I am so so sorry. I just hugged my cat extra tonight.

I used foaming wasp spray and spray bleach several times on vicious repeat offender pit bulls who came in our yard to attack our cats. It worked, they didn't ever come back. I have no issue with defending my family from roaming killer dogs, even ones called "pets."

This is just one of the reasons why we need better and more updated animal cruelty laws and thier enforcement taken seriously.
I am sorry for Chris's and his family's loss of a beloved pet.
However, while those dogs did kill Chris's pet, it is the irresponsible owner whose fault it is. This is but one unfortunate example.

Your two "pets" mauled my [leashed] cat to death tonight as my wife and son watched while trying to stop them. I would advise leashing your dogs like they do in civilized countries from now on, because when I find them roaming on my property the next time I will personally break both of their necks. I really don't care if I get mauled in the process, Then maybe your family can experience the heartbreak that mine is right now.

Right on brother. I'm a dog person and I would do the same thing. Sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry and went through exactly what you describe when one of my beloved felines was caught by two roaming dogs and dragged off, being flipped between the two of them as they took off. I was able to chase them off (and, yes, as much of an animal lover as I am I would have killed them both were I able), rushed my "baby" to the vet but she was DOA.

It was a ghastly experience and I'm so sorry for your loss.

So sorry to hear of this. A terrible thing for your son to witness.

Really sorry to hear it. Sorry for your loss. I don't blame you one bit for how you feel. Eye for an eye. :X

Thank you all for your sympathies, it's appreciated. I would not actually harm another living creature except in defense, even though I really, really want to. I just want people to be responsible and not let their dogs run wild. It could have easily been my 5-year old that was viciously mauled too if my wife hadn't acted so quickly.

It could have easily been my 5-year old that was viciously mauled too if my wife hadn't acted so quickly.

Yes. And I have personally witnessed or known of four random maulings of people by pit bulls or rottweilers in my adult life - two almost to death (one on St. Croix, one in Texas), both people are lucky to be alive and have massive scars. I have personally witnessed a police officer shoot an "at large" pit bull to death to protect a toddler (in Texas). I'm not even talking about the few occurrences which make it to the news - and there are many that never do, because they are almost routine. I hope you take this possibility really seriously.

Some people should not be allowed to own certain breeds of dogs, period. I'm not blaming the dogs, but there are way too many irresponsible owners that own dogs which can turn aggressive or even deadly when not trained and socialized properly.

I would suggest Chris contact the Humane Society or at least make a police report. I honestly don't know what good it will do but at least there will be a record of aggression as he mentioned it could have also been his son attacked and not just the cat.

Get a stun gun, works for people, dogs.. cats.... or a colapsable baton.

fido won't be eating your cat with 1.5 millon volts getting his attention, or with the baton, when you shatter his rear leg or rib cage I bet he lets your cat go and runs away.

the noise alone of a taser will cause a dog to run, humans usualy as well, stun guns are more expensive but MUCH more effective as they cause an involentary response, a "taser" will just cause a lot of pain.

A bullet costs less than 50 cents........

Truly heartbreaking to read these stories of attacks, and know there are so many more that we don't read /know about. I'm so very sorry for your loss, Chris, and the experience of witnessing that by your wife and son is horrendous. I know how traumatic it is, and it's hard to stop reliving it.

We lost our dear, sweet Sammie several months ago. Two dogs came into our fenced back yard, the "safe place" we have for our rescued cats, and killed our beautiful Siamese Sammie. I heard barking in the middle of the night (2:00 a.m.) and ran out to the back to chase the dogs out, they'd squeezed under our fence, I chased them away and then realized Sammie was just laying there near the door, not moving. She was in shock and barely breathing. They killed her, she was a big, 20+ lb. cat, but was older and not able to defend herself against 2 menacing dogs. She shouldn't have had to worry about that, she was in her "safe place" ... our fenced yard, back porch, and her haven. Heart broken ... We fixed the fence so they can't do that again, but the damage was done and I hate that our "safe place" for our rescued cats was compromised in such a violent and painful manner.

Leash laws and keeping dogs contained are not enforced, things are not quite right here, and this is one of them! 🙁 Very sad face added.

Leash laws and keeping dogs contained are not enforced,.

what is enforced here?

but honestly, I don't mind it at all; I despise the "sue happy" mentality that seems to have taken this island by the throat when hovensa was functional, how many law firms are on this island.... what is the ratio of lawyers to citizens here, I bet it's higher than most places.

perhaps this is because I am youngish, and have learned / been trained to be adaptable and self-reliant; but in reality, expecting people in costumes to come to your rescue never works out.

In fact those in costumes with piece of paper in their pocket are almost always (through out history, look at Germany, and Russia as recently as 70 years ago... or Africa now...) the ones that end up doing terrible things (not that it doesn't already happen, look up police accidental/unnecessary fatal shootings, the statistics are almost as scary as hospital fatalities).

the point is, when it comes down to it, you are responsible for you and that you hold dear, cats in their "safe zone" included.

Laws won't protect your property or pets, your diligence will; that and a stout fence and maybe some cat friendly dogs (I have 3, they love my cats to death and hate anything bigger than a large island mutt, the short ones with curly tails).

of course, I just discovered how to re-create my favorite drink from Alaska, the BloodyTini.. so maybe it's the vodka that has me so verbose tonight.

regardless, sorry for your loss, I've gotten quite good at building fence lately, with the horses and dogs and all; if you'd like a second opinion or need help with securing your back yard let me know!

Leash laws and keeping dogs contained are not enforced,.

what is enforced here?

but honestly, I don't mind it at all; I despise the "sue happy" mentality that seems to have taken this island by the throat when hovensa was functional, how many law firms are on this island.... what is the ratio of lawyers to citizens here, I bet it's higher than most places.

perhaps this is because I am youngish, and have learned / been trained to be adaptable and self-reliant; but in reality, expecting people in costumes to come to your rescue never works out.

In fact those in costumes with piece of paper in their pocket are almost always (through out history, look at Germany, and Russia as recently as 70 years ago... or Africa now...) the ones that end up doing terrible things (not that it doesn't already happen, look up police accidental/unnecessary fatal shootings, the statistics are almost as scary as hospital fatalities).

the point is, when it comes down to it, you are responsible for you and that you hold dear, cats in their "safe zone" included.

Laws won't protect your property or pets, your diligence will; that and a stout fence and maybe some cat friendly dogs (I have 3, they love my cats to death and hate anything bigger than a large island mutt, the short ones with curly tails).

of course, I just discovered how to re-create my favorite drink from Alaska, the BloodyTini.. so maybe it's the vodka that has me so verbose tonight.

regardless, sorry for your loss, I've gotten quite good at building fence lately, with the horses and dogs and all; if you'd like a second opinion or need help with securing your back yard let me know!

This one is tough for me. I have also had some wine tonight!

I now live in a community where dogs running loose is not tolerated. If someone sees a dog running loose, animal control is called, the dog is picked up. There is no "sue happy" attitude; rather it is everyone working together with law enforcement (animal control) to control loose and possibly vicious animals. And our shelter is low-kill, meaning animals are only put down as a last resort.

But will this model work in the USVI? In my opinion, no. Because the piece that is missing is the unilateral cooperation with law enforcement. A secondary piece is effective and efficient (not abusive) law enforcement (and not all law enforcement is evil or abusive - definitely not). But too many people in the USVI think it is fine for dogs to run loose - and there is no law enforcement willing to stop that attitude. Even my friend who was almost killed inside her own fenced yard was told her attack was her fault! And I have heard the excuse for dogs running loose, "they're dogs! That's what dogs do!" more than once.

So the only option is self defense. I hadn't thought of the baton before - that's a good one. If I could have broken some ribs before some of our cats were killed it would have.

No. The only option is to have the Senators revisit the present animal cruelty laws and bring them into the 21st Century and make those laws enforceable and insure their enforcement. Complaining on this forum won't do any good. Complain to your Senators that inact the laws. Until and unless people do this, nothing will change for the better.

Complaining on this forum won't do any good

What an ironic statement...

No. The only option is to have the Senators revisit the present animal cruelty laws and bring them into the 21st Century and make those laws enforceable and insure their enforcement. Complaining on this forum won't do any good. Complain to your Senators that inact the laws. Until and unless people do this, nothing will change for the better.

the laws are actually pretty good, we went over them at the animal welfare summit a month or so ago.

the enforcement is the issue really.

and at this point, I'd say our elected officals have bigger fish to fry.

There are always going to be bigger fish to fry so unless people insist that present laws are enforced and others updated, NOTHING changes. I'd imagine that with your horse rescue operation, you'd have a dog in this fight. (pardon the expression)

ChrisMI (and others who have experienced similar), I am so sorry to hear about your losses.

I'm sorry to hear of your tragic loss. But this is the first time I have heard of a cat on a leash.

There are always going to be bigger fish to fry so unless people insist that present laws are enforced and others updated, NOTHING changes. I'd imagine that with your horse rescue operation, you'd have a dog in this fight. (pardon the expression)

well I'd say I have many dogs in this fight, and probably am bit more committed personally and financially to this topic than most people.

however, I also choose action with efficiency in mind, an affluent society will take care of the little problems much easier (see JulieKay's posting on how strays aren't an issue) so while it may seem like I am not concerned about this issue (and directly, I am not) I am in a sense that I see the situation as a "system" and the system as a whole needs to be worked on, not just one component of it.

the AWC has been working at this for years and has actually made some good progress (at least on STX, unsure of STT/STJ) but the systemic issues still are present, and from every meeting I've attended the clearest and most hopeful solutions involve aggressive spay/neuter operations that will take funding that isn't present with out a strong community to back it (thus my bigger fish to fry comment).

I think we need to tackle this problem from a different angle, one a bit more oblique.

I'm sorry to hear of your tragic loss. But this is the first time I have heard of a cat on a leash.

Not really unusual. Friends here who live in a condo and have to keep their cat inside have her well trained to a leash/harness so they can take her outside for walks and she loves it!