Scott Stanfield
Record staff
A six-year-old cat named Midnight succumbed to her injuries Sept. 28 after being dragged from her Comox residence by a pit bull.
The cat — a rare breed known as a munchkin, though it weighed nearly 20 pounds — was sleeping in her usual spot on the front porch. Her owner, Bill Woodcock, had opened the door for Midnight and his other cat at around 6 a.m. After feeding his pets, Midnight went to her bed, which rests on a table.
“I’m at my kitchen table having a cup of coffee and all of sudden I hear a commotion, and here’s my cat flying up in the air and this dog catching it in its mouth,” said Woodcock, who lives in the 1900 block of Comox Avenue.
He went outside and spotted the dog across the street. Woodcock kicked the pit bull repeatedly in the head, but it didn’t drop the cat. Then a motorist flashed their headlights on the scene.
“That’s when all of a sudden this hand and arm reaches in. He (owner) grabbed the dog by the collar and the dog released my cat just like that,” Woodcock said.
He did not know the owner, but had previously seen the dog — leashed — on numerous occasions.
“When this dog attacked my cat it had no leash on it. This is not the first time this dog has been in my neighbourhood, and people had problems with this dog.”
Woodcock wound up with a couple of marks on his nose. It’s unclear if they are scratches or bites.
“The dog was off leash, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Town of Comox bylaw enforcement officer Bill Smith said. “We’re investigating.”
The pit bull is back with its owner, who is required to have the animal assessed.
Once a dog bites a person or another animal, Smith said it’s considered vicious, and cannot leave the owner’s property without a muzzle and a leash. If an assessor can come up with a reason why an attack happened and what can be done to prevent a re-occurrence, then the ‘vicious’ terminology would no longer apply, as long as the dog can be trained.
Woodcock feels the ownership and breeding of pit bulls should be banned locally, as is the case in Ontario.
“This is something I think the politicians should look at and legislate where pit bulls are banned. My cat did nothing wrong.”
Woodcock also feels the owner of the pit bull should pay the $200 crematorium bill he faces.
“I’ve had no kids in my life. My cats are my kids. It’s like I lost a kid. When I leave this earth, she gets planted with me. I gotta’ live with this for the rest of my life. I’ll never, ever replace her.”
The dog owner has yet to be contacted for comment as bylaw enforcement would not release the dog owner’s name to The Record prior to going to print.