FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – The Broward Sheriff’s Office and residents at a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood are working to find a dog owner who encouraged his dogs to attack and kill a beloved cat.
Neighbors said the same man walked around the Boulevard Gardens area near Fort Lauderdale and “egg on” his dogs to attack the neighborhood cats.
Home surveillance video from Sunday night showed the dogs running through a front yard after several cats and catching one, Ringo, who neighbors described as a chunky, well-loved community cat.
What makes this worse, neighbors said, was that the man was walking the dogs without a leash and appeared to egg them on to go after the cats.
Neighbors said they’ve seen the dogs before.
“We’ve seen them before in the neighborhood and he actually come into our yard and threw something at the cat that was on top of my SUV so he would jump down,” said the woman.
And that’s when the two dogs started the chase.
“By the looks of everything, they ran this way, after the cat,” said neighbor.
The video is hard to hear, but at one point, it appears that the man is praising the dogs.
“Good boy, good boy,” said the man on video.
On Monday morning, neighbors found Ringo’s body on the side of the house near where the chase happened.
“We’ve taken care of him for two years, took to the vet, they’re colony cats, but we still feed them, we seem them everyday, they come up to us. They are not our pets but they’re animals, living beings,” said the neighbor.
“He was a chunky little monkey,” said neighbor. “It’s animal cruelty, it’s terrible.”
One of the neighbors said the dogs were spotted walking around a nearby park Monday without their owner.
BSO are now investigating.
They removed Ringo’s body but now, they want to know who this man is.
“It’s crazy, how can someone do that,” said Luis Rivera, a neighbor. “Purposely come, bring dogs to attack cats? That’s no good.”
“It’s different if a loose dog just chases a cat, it does happen,” said the woman. “But for someone to egg it on, that to me that’s criminal.”
If you have any information on this crime, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
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