Kathi Fance is frustrated that three dogs who nearly killed a cat have yet to be caught.
Fance said the three-and-a-half-year-old cat, called Bug, who is living at a friend’s house in the Miller Road area of Duncan. At about 5 a.m. on Nov. 17, her friend awoke to the sounds of Bug “screaming” from outdoors.
Fance said her friend ran out of the house to find Bug severely injured and near death, with the dogs that she believes are feral leaving the area.
She said that, since then, Bug has been in and out of multiple surgeries to repair the damage, and has been fighting infections as well.
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The cat’s vet bill is growing, “with all the surgeries, drainings, painkillers, and the several different antibiotics they are giving him,” Fance said.
“My poor boy is suffering. I would like these killers, obviously with a pack mentality now, to be stopped. They have attacked and killed numerous neighborhood cats in the Miller Road area.”
Fance said Coastal Animal Control Services, which is in charge of animal control in Duncan and North Cowichan, has put out large cages baited with food in an effort to catch the dogs, but the dogs have still not yet been located.
Judy Burnett, the office manager for Coastal Animal Control Services in Duncan, acknowledged that traps have been placed to try and catch the dogs.
But she said the last sighting of the trio was about a week ago.
She said workers at the CACS have, to date, only seen one picture of the dogs that was taken among vegetation, so it was impossible to gauge the size of the animals.
Burnett said all that can be confirmed at this stage of the investigation is that two were mostly black and one was mostly tan.
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“We’re patrolling the area every day, and we have had help from the Cowichan Tribes who did a sweep of their lands to ensure no dogs are running loose and causing problems,” she said.
“It’s possible that the dogs have owners who saw this case being talked about online and are now keeping the dogs indoors or in a pen.”
Burnett said the attack on Bug is still an open case and wouldn’t comment on whether other cats have been reported missing or killed in the area, and whether any outstanding cases are related to the three dogs.
But she did advise cat owners in the Miller Road area to keep their cats indoors for now.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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