ELGIN, Ore. (AP) — The owner of two pit bulls that killed another dog and bit a 76-year-old woman pleaded guilty to several charges in Elgin Municipal Court, and agreed to euthanize the dogs.
Brandi Howell of Elgin was fined $325 after pleading guilty to vicious dog, barking dog and dog at large.
The pit bulls yanked a Yorkshire terrier named Tinker from her arms of Ramona Betts, who lives at the Elgin Mobile Home Park.
"I had taken Tinker for a walk like I do a lot of times, when two pit bulls started coming toward me," Betts said at Monday's hearing. "I knew they were after my dog, so I lifted Tinker up as high as I could, but the pit bulls jumped and grabbed him away from me before I could do anything about it."
The pit bulls repeatedly bit the terrier, and Betts received several wounds when she reached down to save Tinker.
Tinker died on the way to the Animal Health Center in Island City. Betts was treated at Grande Ronde Hospital's emergency room.
Deputies Nick Pallis and Eric Kilpatrick responded to the frantic calls from neighbors, but when they arrived on the scene the dogs had already gone. Eye witnesses were interviewed, and Howell was cited.
"It's the most vicious dog attack we've encountered in Elgin in recent years," said Pallis.
Howell agreed to euthanize the dogs within 60 days. She said that one of the pit bulls will soon give birth, and the mother will be destroyed after the pups are weaned. She told the court that she will sell the pups.
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