Woman Upset With El Paso Animal Services For Trying To Take Her Dog

A northeast El Paso woman is breathing a sigh of relief after she thought someone was trying to steal her dog.

Turns out it was an Animal Services officer trying to capture a possibly dangerous dog.

But the woman said she’s concerned because the officer never identified himself to her.

Casey is a 2-year-old bull-German shepherd mix. She’s like family to Fiona Leatherwood and that’s why she was so upset about what happened Tuesday night.

“We were sitting here and all of a sudden we heard a man’s voice and it was really close to the window right here and kind of — we were like ‘What’s going on?’ So, I went outside because Casey was still barking,” Leatherwood said.

Leatherwood said when she came outside, she saw a man standing on her rock wall, leaning over the attached tall fence and was holding what appeared to be a dog catcher stick.

“He asked me if it was my dog. I told him ‘Yeah, it’s my dog.’ And he told me ‘Oh, well we’re trying to get a dog in the neighborhood.’ And I was like, ‘Well, this is my dog.’ And he was like, ‘OK.’ He jumped off the wall and left,” said Leatherwood.

One of her concerns is that the man never identified himself.

“All I saw was the polo (shirt) and I saw the truck, that’s why I assumed it was him, but I didn’t know for certain,” Leatherwood said.

She said she’s also concerned because there was no warning.

“It really bothers me that he came up and didn’t even knock on the door,” said Leatherwood.

El Paso Animal Services officials said officers were looking for a German shepherd who had bitten someone and was jumping from yard to yard.

“The other officer was trying to knock on a door as the dog jumped to the other door, so she was not able to follow the dog with the other officer that was chasing the dog,” explained Eduardo De Castro, deputy director for Animal Services.

He said it was an emergency situation. De Castro compared it to police chasing after a suspect.

De Castro said officers needed to capture the dog as soon as possible before it bit someone else.

“Public safety and health suspends some logical things that we would do otherwise,” said De Castro.

Still, Leatherwood said she was scared Casey might have been wrongfully taken.

“That’s suspicious behavior to me and then also if you had taken my dog, what would have happened,” wondered Leatherwood.

De Castro told ABC-7 had Casey been taken by mistake, officers would have brought her home.

He said if residents are concerned about a similar situation, they can always call 911.

The reported German shephered was found. Officials said its owners are facing a number of violations.

The case is still being investigated.