JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Mandarin woman is coming forward with concerns about safety in her neighborhood after she said two of her dogs were mauled to death two years apart – by the same dog.
It’s difficult for Cynthia Cardenas to talk about her dogs, Rocky and Dori, without getting emotional. She was there when both of them took their final breaths after they were attacked on Langsland Court.
The most recent incident unfolded about two weeks ago as Rocky, a Pomerian, was wandering in the street without a leash. Cardenas said a neighbor’s hound came charging toward Rocky and attacked.
“I knew the second that the other dog grabbed Rocky and started to fling him back and forth there was just no way Rocky was going to make it,” Cardenas told News4Jax on Thursday.
She reported the incident to Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services. But because Rocky wasn’t wearing a leash at the time, Cardenas was cited for “allowing an animal to be at large.”
The other dog’s owner was cited for the same infraction, as well as permitting an animal to damage someone else’s property because pets are considered property under the law.
“It’s not fair for the dog owner whose dog gets killed to be cited and have an infraction that they have to pay,” she said of the $250 fine she now owes.
News4Jax reached out to the city. A city spokesperson did not reply. Reached Thursday, an animal control officer took a message for her supervisor, but the supervisor did not return the message.
Cardenas said the attack that killed Rocky mirrors a similar incident from July 2017, when her dog died. She said the Chihuahua got outside and was in a neighbor’s yard when the hound attacked.
“My little Pomeranian, my little Chihuahua from two years ago – neither one had a chance,” she said, adding that a third dog of hers would have met the same fate had it been outside.
Unfortunately for Cardenas, she did not report the 2017 incident. Had she done that, she was told, the city would have been able to open a “dangerous dog” investigation.