A pack of stray dogs attacked several horses and a calf on Pulaski Road Sunday near the Bulloch/Candler county line, resulting in emergency surgery for three miniature horses. One of the horses, as well as the calf, died Tuesday.
Nancy Ann DiPolito Hodges was at work Sunday afternoon when her husband called to report two of her miniature horses, a buckskin gelding named Spirit and a gray mare named Amber, had been mauled. Johnny Hodges found the horses lying prostrate in the pasture when he went to feed them, and noticed they were covered in blood.
Nancy left work and came home to find the little horses badly mauled, ripped apart in places, and in shock, she said.
Not being able to get a veterinarian in Statesboro to make a farm call, she loaded the injured miniatures into a trailer and headed to a Statesboro veterinarian office. After the horses were stabilized, she transported them to Central Georgia Equine Services (Dr. Charlene Cook) in Ft. Valley, for further treatment and surgery.
The horses she left behind - several larger horses and one miniature that had not been harmed - seemed to be fine. However, after Hodges' return from Ft. Valley, her husband said the dogs had returned. He fired a gun to chase the pack of dogs away, but they had struck again, she said; this time, the small sorrel pinto mare Sugar Baby suffered severe rips and bites to her body as well.
Photos sent from Ft. Valley Animal Hospital via cell phone were too graphic to print. Gaping wounds around the horses' hindquarters, bellies and genitalia required intensive stitches, Hodges said.
After the second attack, Hodges called the Bulloch County Sheriff's Department. Earlier, as she was on the way to the veterinarian, she notified Joey Sanders with Bulloch County Humane Enforcement, who said Monday he was working with Candler County authorities to locate the dogs' owners and to possibly set traps around the Hodges' property in case the dogs return.
Bulloch County Sheriff's Deputy Kimberly Khan reported the horses and a calf were badly mauled, and the calf would likely have to be put down. It died in spite of efforts to save it, Hodges said.
Khan contacted a suspect who lives in Candler County, and spotted a black Labrador mix dog matching the description of one of the attacking dogs in is yard, reports stated. However, the suspect denied his dogs had left his property.
Hodges said she is upset about the major expense she will incur due to the dogs' attacks, but is more concerned with her horse's safety and well being. The miniature mares have long been family pets and the family raised the gelding from a foal.
Closer inspection Monday revealed the larger horses in Hodges' pastures, as well as a neighbor's horse, suffered minor bites and scrapes from the dog attacks as well, she said.
"I can't believe what happened," she said. "The poor horses are suffering because of the owner's) lack of responsibility to keep his dogs home. I've been awake 30 hours and made two emergency trips to the veterinarian (two hours away) and I still don't know if the horses are going to be OK."
Sanders said although he had not seen the injured horses before Hodges took them to be treated, he spoke to her about the incident and intends to follow up on the case by contacting Candler County authorities. He said although the dogs' owner may live in Candler County, the attacks occurred in Bulloch and citations could be filed.
He also said live traps on the property may catch the offending dogs and remove them from roaming the neighborhood.
Even gentle pet dogs can change in personality when they join a pack of other dogs, he said.
"Stray dogs will ‘pack up' and kill livestock just for the fun of it," he said. "A coyote will drag (its kill) off and you'll find it half eaten, but dogs packing up, you'll find multiple animals bitten, just ripped open, and the dogs do it just for fun."
Hodges said she was concerned about children in the area. A neighbor was cornered by stray dogs last year, she said, and one of her pet goats was killed by dogs a year ago as well.
"I don't think Amber is going to make it," she said Monday after a day spent at the vet's office. "She hasn't moved at all today." The mare died Tuesday evening.
Anyone with information about stray dogs in the Pulaski Road area near the county line - specifically, a black dog, red dog, brown dog and tan dog running together - is asked to contact Bulloch County Humane Enforcement at 764-4529 or the Bulloch County Sheriff's Department at 764-8888.
Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at 912-489-9414.