Terrier kills cat, frightens neighbors Terrier kills cat, frightens neighbors (August 26, 2005)

'It's going to happen to somebody's child,' bereaved cat owner says

By Jenny Baer

Residents say they no longer feel safe in their quiet neighborhood on the 400 block of Mountain View Avenue after an off-leash terrier attacked and killed a resident's pet cat in its own backyard.

"We don't feel safe for our [remaining] cat, and we don't feel safe for ourselves," said Mark Miller, the owner of the deceased tabby.

On the evening of Aug. 10, Miller says, he received a phone call that a neighbor's dog had "done something to his cat." He and his partner, Bill Sweet, returned home to find their neighbors clustered outside. Two of them had taken Miller's cat Luigi to the veterinarian's office.

Next-door neighbors Karine Manokian and Rene Wuthrich told Miller they had heard an animal in distress in Miller's yard. They said they walked outside to find the dog emerging from underneath the gates of Miller's property and running to its owner, Margarita Outley, who lives across the street.

Miller went to the veterinarian's office, where he discovered that the badly mauled Luigi had stopped breathing and needed to be put down. "We loved him so much that we didn't want him to suffer," said Miller tearfully.

He was further perturbed when, upon confronting Outley about the incident, her sole reaction was, allegedly, "Oh, so that's what he had on his mouth."

Outley told the Voice she does not intend to reimburse Miller for any veterinarian expenses, mainly because she is already being evicted because of her dogs -- the terrier and another she describes as a Labrador.

According to Outley, it was Miller's "vicious cat" that attacked her dog. She says her dogs were playing with neighborhood children when Miller's orange tabby cat approached and attacked the terrier. Outley denies that her dog entered Miller's property. She also says the cat did not make any sounds of distress, and that the audible squealing was emanating from her victimized dog.

"That cat bit my dog, it's not like the dog bit the cat," Outley said. "All you could hear was the cat jumping from place to place, and you could hear my dog screaming. Both of them were attacked."

Miller believes this account to be fictitious. The only blood left by the incident was in Miller's backyard where his cat was left injured. He says it would be impossible for the attack to have occurred on the street because his shy cat rarely leaves the property -- and in any case would not have been able to crawl, with two fractured legs, from the street into Miller's yard, where he was found minutes later.

However, Miller adds, "to me, this is not about my dead cat. Obviously, I'm very attached to my cat and it really was a member of our family, but my next-door neighbors just brought home a new baby. This dog was able to get under a heavy gate. It was able to get onto my property all the way to my backyard. If it got loose again and someone's child is standing there in the front yard and the owner has no control, it's not on a leash ... the next time it's going to happen to somebody's child."

Manoukian and Wuthrich have two young children, and say they were wary of Outley's dog prior to the attack because of its infamous breed -- American Staffordshire terrier, a close relative of the pit bull -- and because Outley allegedly let it run off-leash. Since the attack, their children are not allowed in the front yard unless they are holding a parent's hand. The parents are also exploring options to make their fencing more secure.

One of Miller's neighbors, Heidi Gerster, a longtime resident there, says she notified city officials a few times before the attack to complain about the dogs' barking. "I mentioned to the officer who came to our house that they could be a dangerous threat to the children in our neighborhood," she said.

But according to Mountain View Police Capt. Bruce Barsi, police have evaluated the dogs and determined that they are not vicious. Unless Miller chooses to sue Outley for damages -- he says he's exploring the option -- she will face few consequences aside from a $25 fine.

"It's a shame that until human life is involved in an attack, the only penalty that exists for dogs attacking other innocent pets off-leash is a $25 fine," said neighbor Manoukian. "We know what these particular dogs are capable of, and it's frustrating and terrifying to think that we must be on our guard outside of our homes or in our backyard."

E-mail Jenny Baer at jbaer@mv-voice.com

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