Wendy Leung has frequently taken her Yorkshire terrier, Maido, to John Connolly Dog Park since she adopted him seven months ago.
“I have been going to John Connolly Park since August 2012 when I adopted Maido,” Leung said.
Leung made her usual trip to the dog park on Sunday, Feb. 10, around noon. But within a matter of minutes, Maido was attacked by another dog and died on the way to the animal hospital.
Leung said the dogs were off their leashes at the time, but the owners of the dog that attacked Maido did not leave any contact information.
“The owners of the dog have not surfaced,” she said.
It was difficult for Leung to describe the incident. Leung’s cousin, Cathy Yau, said Maido usually plays on the dog park side with the bigger dogs.
According to Erica Buchholz, she and her boyfriend were at the park with their dog. A grey and white pit bull arrived with its owners 10 minutes after Buchholz.
“A few seconds after, Wendy came in with Maido. The pit bull turned and grabbed Maido’s whole midsection in his mouth,” she said in an email.
She said the pit bull’s owners were screaming and yelling at their dog. The dog would not let go of Maido, she said.
“My boyfriend ran over and started choking the pit bull. Eventually, he let go but then turned and grabbed Maido on the neck. My boyfriend choked the pit bull again and he let go,” she said, adding Leung was trying to pry open the pit bull’s mouth with her hands.
“She had bite marks on her hand,” Buchholz said.
“She wanted to save her baby,” Yau said.
After the pit bull released Maido, Buchholz drove Leung and her dog to the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Cherry Hill.
“Maido was alive up until a few minutes from the hospital. We went in and he was pronounced dead,” Buchholz said. “The vet said even if we got there on time he wouldn’t have made it.”
A police report was filed and animal control was notified after the incident.
Leung and her family are also posting fliers around the area to inform others about the incident, to try to prevent it from happening again.
“We want people to know and understand that accidents like this can be avoided,” Yau said.
Yau recently adopted her pit bull, Walter. She said pit bulls have naturally strong prey drives.
“People will adopt pets because they think they are doing something good, but they fail to do the proper research and training for their pets. Dog owners must be responsible and test their pets in private with one or two other dogs before going anywhere near a dog park,” she said, adding it is a dog owner’s responsibility to “curb that instinct and train them to be submissive and in control in public.”
Leung wants the public to be aware of the incident.
“I most definitely would like to prevent this from ever occurring again,” Leung said.
“Just know that my heart is in pain, and he was taken away from me too soon,” she said.
