ST. MARYS, Ga. – A man and his roommate have called Animal Control multiple times, but they feel as though they’re not getting any help with a “nightmare” situation involving a neighbor’s dog, the pair said Wednesday.
Jeff Hunt said he was attacked by the animal -- one of the 14 dogs that have been causing him grief for the past year.
“(It’s) loud -- barking nonstop, all day, 24/7,” said Ashley Delprado, Hunt’s roommate.
The constant barking is part of a typical day for Delprado and her two young children, she said.
Delprado has a dog too, named Deebo, but the animal doesn’t make much noise compared to the 14 that live next door.
“I'm hoping that it's going to stop,” Delprado said. “I want our kids to be able to go in the backyard and play and act like normal kids.”
Currently, they’re unable to -- because for the past year, the neighbor’s dogs have pushed in the fence and jumped over it. Delprado said she doesn’t think her kids are safe outside.
When asked if he was scared of the dogs, 5-year-old Mason Delprado, who suffers from cerebral palsy, said yes.
Added his sister, 12-year-old Abigail Delprado, “Whenever I'm on the trampoline or (doing) something outside, playing with my brother, they will try to jump over the fence to get to me or him.”
On Monday night, the three larger dogs were successful. Hunt said that’s when the dogs pushed through the fence, biting Deebo and then Hunt.
“ ... The third dog jumped up and bit me on the hand,” Hunt said.
Video surveillance shows police, EMTs and Animal Control coming to the scene, but Animal Control was only able to tell the neighbor to keep the dogs inside for 10 days.
News4Jax knocked on the door of the home and tried speaking with the neighbor. News4Jax saw and heard multiple dogs, but the person who answered the door said, “I have no comment.”
When asked if the resident planned on fixing the fence, the resident slammed the door.
The dog bite left Hunt’s hand and wrist so swollen that emergency room doctors hooked him up to an IV filled with antibiotics to prevent infection, he said.
“I have a heart condition,” Hunt said. “And (the doctor) said, ‘If you hadn't come in when you did, the infection could've gotten in your blood and it could've been almost deadly,’ he said.”
Now, Hunt and Ashley Delprado just hope something more is done before someone else is hurt.
“I want a behavioral (examination) done on them,” Delprado said. “I want them to see what we see on a daily basis and know that these dogs are severely vicious and it's not OK. Something’s got to be done.”
Although Hunt has health insurance, he has retained a lawyer for this case.
Hunt and Delprado were told by Animal Control that there is no law in Georgia that prevents a certain number of animals in a home, as long as there is proper care involved.