Warning: Video may contain graphic/disturbing images.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque family says they’re traumatized after three dogs attacked their beloved lab mix during a walk. The dog was mauled so badly, she had to be euthanized.
Brent Buell and his daughter were on a walk with their lab mixes Molly and Jordan. Just houses away from their own home, it was a routine stroll through their neighborhood until three pit bulls rushed them. A camera on a neighbor’s garage caught the entire attack, which Buell says lasted about 10 minutes.
“We were just on a walk in the morning with our two dogs,” said Buell. “Thankfully a neighbor who I had never met before in my life stopped to help me.”
The video shows the dogs dragging one of the labs, 9-year-old Jordan, across the street. Neighbors stepped in, throwing things to get the dogs to stop. Buell says he had an asthma attack during the ordeal and he doesn’t know what would’ve happened if the neighbor hadn’t been there to save them.
Finally, the pit bulls’ owner, identified by Animal Control as Elston Lane, shows up.
“It’s a living hell,” said Buell. “I can’t go one day without thinking about it.”
Buell says his daughter’s dog, Molly, survived with minor scratches. However, his pup Jordan was injured so badly, she had to be put down.
“My daughter and I went back there and I saw Jordan. She was wrapped up. She was trying to stand up and when she saw us, she got calm. I knew what she went through and I could just see the damage,” said Buell. “I said, ‘I can’t do this to you. I don’t know what kind of life you’re going to have, you just went through a living hell and I don’t want to put you through all of these surgeries.'”
Animal Control records showed they tried contacting Lane that day but did not get an answer. A little over a week later, they finally made contact with him. He told them he turned two of the dogs in, but the third had ran off after the attack and had only returned home the day before. They believe the dogs got out through a break in the fence.
“I’m always out of town so I don’t know how that happened,” said Lane during an audio recording with Animal Control. “It’s just a bad situation.”
Officers said the third dog needed to go to Animal Control that day and he had two options: she could be deemed dangerous and he would have the chance to appeal and get her back, or she could be given up as an owner surrender.
“I paid a lot for my dog. I paid seven grand for the boy I turned in, I paid five for the girl I turned in and I paid four for her,” Lane told an Animal Control officer.
He decided to surrender her and Animal Control filed criminal charges against him. Buell says all three pit bulls were euthanized as a result of the attack, but it doesn’t make him feel any better about losing Jordan.
“It’s to the point where when we are out in public or take my daughter’s dog on a walk, I don’t care if it’s a pit bull, a golden retriever, or lab, if they’re not on a leash or don’t have an owner, it’s anxiety,” said Buell. “I won’t take my dog for, or my daughter’s dog, for a walk in my neighborhood anymore. I actually drive away from the neighborhood to take her on a walk.”
Animal Control officers cited the pit bulls’ owner for allowing them to run loose off property, be out without a leash, and not being up-to-date on their rabies vaccinations. Lane faces nine misdemeanors as a result, three for each dog.
