KOVR
By Ashley Sharp
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SACRAMENTO (KOVR) — A Sacramento woman is in mourning after her small dog was viciously attacked by a loose dog just outside their Natomas home on Friday.
The incident was caught on Elizabeth Gifford’s home surveillance camera near Valley Oaks Park.
“It came out of nowhere. Literally came out of nowhere,” Gifford said through tears.
It shows the moment a loose dog she describes as a white pit-bull mix rushes up to her yard as her five-pound Maltese had walked briefly from her garage to greet the neighbor in the yard next door.
“She was like, my soulmate. It was crazy,” Gifford said of her dog, named Giggit.
Inside Gifford’s home now sits an empty dog bed, food bowls that will not be refilled, and a hollow harness: painful reminders that her beloved dog will not be coming home.
Gifford says the attack happened on Friday morning as she was in her garage unloading groceries from the car, her dog at her side.
“Then, next thing you know, I see this dog flying across the street, and then grabs my dog. It happened so fast I didn’t even know what to do with myself,” Gifford said.
On the Ring camera footage, her traumatic screams for help can be heard echoing through the neighborhood as she tries to physically fight the large dog off of Giggit.
“I grabbed the dog, and I was trying to get it to release my little puppy. And then it just, we fought for a bit, and it just went running across the street with her in its mouth,” Gifford said.
Gifford also sustained minor injuries during the incident and was bitten by the dog.
Neighbor Parag Kate saw the dramatic incident unfold.
“I was so scared looking at the scene itself, right?” Parag said.
Neighbor Andrea Morgan heard Gifford’s screams and rushed to her front porch.
“I’m like, what’s wrong? What’s wrong? And then I happened to glance over at the park, and I saw the dog with her dog in its mouth,” said Morgan.
At Valley Oak Park, Gifford and neighbors finally freed Giggit from the dog’s grip and it ultimately ran off.
Even after emergency vet care, Giggit died from severe injuries to her throat and body this weekend.
“She’s gone, you know, now she’s gone. I mean, I could never, ever replace her,” Gifford said through sobs.
Now, the search by both neighbors and Sacramento Animal Care Services is on to find the loose dog and its owner, if it has one.
Gifford hung nearly 50 posters in north Natomas, picturing the responsible dog that she describes as a white pit-bull mix with a black spot on its back and no collar.
A neighbor’s child says he spotted the dog loose again in the park on Sunday.
“He just started running around all the tables over there, and everyone was just looking at the dog. I mean, of course, no leash, no owner, nothing, no collar. And even I was surprised, and I didn’t know what to do that second,” said Soham Kate.
Soham’s father, like many neighbors, is on high alert.
“I told my son, if you see any dog running around like this without leash and owner, first of all, stay away from that dog,” Parag said. “Then if you see any adult, reach out to them, tell them so that they can help to catch that dog and take it back to the owner or police or animal control.”
Through Gifford’s grief, she hopes that this does not happen again to another animal, or even a child.
“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. That would just break my heart, that I couldn’t do anything about it, and say something and warn people, you know?” Gifford said.
CBS Sacramento checked in with Sacramento Animal Care Services. They have not yet confirmed where their investigation stands, but Gifford said animal control officers called her and told her they are actively patrolling, looking for the loose dog. As of Monday night, she did not have a report that it had been captured.
It is not known where the dog came from, but Gifford says other neighbors report they have spotted this large white dog before over the past year and say they have seen it roaming, acting aggressively toward other animals and people.
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