FORT SMITH, Ark. – After a beloved pet cow named Maple was attacked and killed by a pack of dogs in western Arkansas, at least one town official is calling for local officials to do more to protect the community.
Maple, a Highland cow that weighed about 1,000 pounds, was attacked and killed the morning of April 10 in a semi-rural part of Fort Smith, Arkansas. One of the dogs involved in the killing was reportedly taken by the owner to a veterinarian and euthanized after the attack.
But another dog remains at-large, said Christina Catsavis, Fort Smith Position 5 city director. Catsavis said she thinks city prosecutor Rita Watkins should resign over the handling of the case.
According to a Fort Smith police report, officers responded on April 10 to a call from the home where Maple was found dead in a pond. The cow’s monetary value was listed as $12,000.
Another cow valued at $2,500 was injured with “a chunk of nose that was missing,” police reported. Police were told the cows’ owner and her daughters had chased a black dog, a pit bull, and a white dog, a mixed-breed, from their property after seeing the dogs attacking the cow in the pond.
Holly Simon, who owned the cows with her husband, said her daughters, ages 13 and 14, fought the dogs off. The cows were in the pond trying to get away from the dogs underwater, but when they came up for air the dogs would attack them, Simon said.
Simon said she has lived in the home with acreage in Rylie Farms for three years with no problems or threats from dogs. She said she still has 50 chickens and a 35-inch tall miniature donkey.
“We’ve taken steps to protect our animals, so we just want our questions answered,” Simon said. “This is an unsafe situation for the entire neighborhood.”
The dogs’ owners were located but they refused to surrender the dogs and both were arrested on obstruction of justice complaints by Fort Smith police.
A Sebastian County Sheriff’s deputy on Wednesday gave the owners vicious dog notifications, warning them that they could be cited each time their remaining vicious dog gets out. One of the owners told a sheriff’s deputy that the black dog had been euthanized.
Fort Smith spokesman Josh Buchfink told the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network, that Watkins was still on the job despite Catsavis’ calls for resignation.
“I’m deeply saddened by what happened to the Simon family. Of course, words tend to fall short when you’ve lost a pet that is like family,” Buchfink said. “We are saddened and grieve with the family.”