CYPRESS, Texas — A dog owner in Cypress is still grieving after she says she watched her pet Chihuahua, Bella, get mauled by her neighbor’s pit bulls.
Surveillance video shows the pit bulls got into Crystal Schilling’s backyard, and one of them ran into her home.
“I came from work," Schilling said. "I stopped by the grocery store and got dog food and normal groceries and came in and put some things away before I went to take my dogs outside."
What she did not know was that the neighbor’s two pit bulls had gotten loose and were waiting in her backyard.
“I opened the back door and she skipped a few feet ahead of me and before I knew it I saw flashes of dogs and she was gone,” Schilling said. “Two dogs had her shaking and her hair was flying around and I grabbed the smaller of the two dogs and held on as hard as I could.”
Schilling held on long enough for her first dog to run away and back into the home, but then the pit bull got out of her hand.
“And ran toward my house,” Schilling said. “I’m sorry. It was like slow motion. I could see it running from my house and I knew if it beat me, I knew that it was going to kill my animals, my babies.”
Ultimately that’s what happened.
Crystal’s 15-year-old Chihuahua was mauled by the pit bull.
“I pushed the button for the garage door to open, and what normally seems so fast felt like an eternity,” Schilling said. “I remember sitting there thinking I’m just going to ram the door, I’m just going to ram it. And then I realized her blood, was dripping all the way to my elbows and that I wasn’t going to be able to save her.”
After that, she called 911. She said a Precinct 4 Constable’s Office deputy showed up but said there was not anything he could do because no crime was committed.
“This was personal property that was destroyed,” Schilling said. “My dog is personal property. She’s no more valuable than the shoes they destroyed or the jeans they ripped holes in when they were attacking me.”
Harris County Public Health, which oversees the county’s animal control, sent an emailed statement which reads in part:
“Unfortunately, there is no current state or local law that penalizes an owner of a dog that attacks or kills another animal. The Dangerous Dog Law applies to humans who have been attacked by a dog or to a dog whose unprovoked behavior may reasonably be deemed dangerous.”
“Today after I spoke with you, the police officer that had come out on Monday, called and came back and suddenly changed what had been an event into a report,” Schilling said. “And he personally called animal control and further explained all of the facts that he already had on Monday. And they have now given me a case number.”