Less than three weeks after a pack of dogs killed five calves off Oktoc Road, the same group of dogs is suspected of killing a goat and injuring two others Thursday night in the Chapel Hill community.
According to Oktibbeha County Sheriff Dolph Bryan, a couple reported three dogs had just attacked their goats Thursday night off Chapel Hill Road, leaving one dead and two others injured. One dog appeared to be a pit bull and one appeared to be a beagle, but the couple could not determine the breed of the third dog, Bryan said.
Sheriff”s Department deputies have spent the past two days combing the area around Chapel Hill Road in search of the animals, Bryan said. He suspects the same three dogs were involved in the July 25 attacks at Mactoc Farm, which left five calves dead and more than a half-dozen injured.
“Although on the road there”s a good bit of distance between the two places, if you cut through the woods, it”s not too far apart,” Bryan said. “It sounds like (the attacks) could be connected.”
“I”ve got my men on it trying to find them,” he added. “If we don”t get something done about these dogs, we”re going to have them attacking a person. It”s a bad situation. We”re going to talk to a lot of people. Somebody out there has to know who these dogs belong to.”
Outside Starkville city limits, Oktibbeha County has no leash laws or vicious dog laws. The county doesn”t have an animal control officer either, so Sheriff”s Department deputies sometimes take wild dogs to the county animal shelter.
Bryan urges county residents to contact the Sheriff”s Department if they see the dogs and not take the law into their own hands unless the dogs present a threat.
“The dog has got to be doing something more than just walking across your property for you to shoot it or harm it, but if it”s endangering you or your livestock or your property, you can take deadly force to stop it,” Bryan said.
The dogs” owners could be held liable for damages to livestock and other property if the victims choose to take civil action, Bryan said.
Anyone with information on the dog attacks can contact the Oktibbeha County Sheriff”s Department at 662-338-1088.
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