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Mint Hill police are looking for two pit bulls that attacked a horse Wednesday and were last seen a short distance from a middle school.
The horse, Joker, died after the dogs attacked. Authorities are not sure if the death was directly due to the attack, as the horse was more than 30 years old.
The incident occurred on Dan Hood Road, off Idlewild Road across from Rice Road. It was on the same road where two pit bulls attacked the same horse and its caregiver, Bill Williamson, in February 2011.
Williamson suffered a heart attack during that event. The two dogs were euthanized. It is not clear if the dogs responsible for Wednesday’s attack were owned by the same person.
Mint Hill police say the two dogs in the most recent attack, named Bubba and Chucky, were last seen Wednesday evening near Dan Hood and Idlewild roads. That is a short distance from Mint Hill Middle School, where administrators sent a message home to parents, saying extra law enforcement personnel had been assigned to the school to protect students, staff and visitors.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are working with Mint Hill police to find the dogs.
Early Thursday afternoon, several police cars were parked on Grier Place, a small road off Dan Hood Road. Police did not say if the dogs had been caught.
A neighbor of Williamson’s, Nino Abdic, told WCNC-TV, the Observer’s news partner, that he saw the pit bulls attack the horse Wednesday.
“They were biting at the back of the legs,” Abdic told WCNC. “It was really sad. I grabbed a stick and some rocks from the neighbor’s driveway to chase them away.”
Williamson told WCNC he will miss the horse, saying he fed her twice a day. “I don’t have to worry about her any more,” he said. “Those dogs settled that.”
Mint Hill police ask that anyone who sees the dogs call them at 704-847-5555, or call Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control at 311.
WCNC-TV contributed.
