Fugitive pit bull Blue attacks second time in Thousand Oaks
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Blue- the pit bull taken into custody recently by Los Angeles County Animal Control for attacking a Thousand Oaks woman and her small dog- went on another bloody rampage last Friday.

Exactly 10 days after Blue's attack on 60-year-old Cheri Lee and her Shih Tzu, Rosie, the dog was stolen from the Agoura Animal Shelter.

He was taken the day before he was to be euthanized, animal control spokesperson Brenda Sanchez said.

The dog was kept in a kennel in an area that's open to the public during the day.

Detective Victor Paladino of L.A. County Sheriff's Department said that sometime between 2 and 5 a.m. April 27, someone used a pair of bolt cutters to cut through the locked chainlink fence that surrounds the shelter's dog area.

The thieves also cut through the chain-link fence around the pit bull's individual kennel. No other dogs were taken.

According to a Ventura County Sheriff's Department report, at around 7 p.m. Friday the pit bull entered a house through the front door and killed the resident's cat.

Then Thousand Oaks residents Bob Olsen and his wife, Laurie Mackey, heard one of their neighbors on Camino Graciosa shouting, "Whose dog is this? He just killed my cat," Mackey recalled.

Blue began chasing the couple's cat, Ringo, until the dog lost interest and ran straight toward their neighbor, Jan Frageorgia, 62, who had just let her small dog Daisy outside.

"Pick up your dog!" Mackey shouted.

Frageorgia heard her and went to pick up her dog in much the same way that Lee had tried to protect Rosie, but the pit bull sank his teeth into the miniature Australian shepherd.

By then, Mackey, Olsen and their boys were on the scene trying to pull the larger dog off Daisy.

"He had a death grip on my dog and wouldn't let go," Frageorgia said.

They punched, choked and pleaded with Blue. Then Mackey picked up a water hose and, as her husband held the dog, shot water down his throat until he released his grip, Mackey said.

Mackey, Frageorgia and the bleeding Daisy, who had been ripped open at the neck and chest, went inside the house for safety.

Frageorgia rushed her dog to a veterinarian. A few days and $5,000 later, Daisy returned home.

Olsen held onto the pit bull until Thousand Oaks police and paramedics arrived.

Mackey, Olsen and Russell had all been bitten, Mackey said.

"When the animal control officer came, the dog wagged his tail and happily went off with him," Mackey said.

Lee and Frageorgia both said they had been traumatized by the attacks and couldn't get the bloody scenes out of their minds.

"If the animal control people had listened to me and done more to protect the citizens of Thousand Oaks this attack would not have happened," Lee said.

"I told them that dog would attack again if he got the chance," Lee said.

Police are trying to determine who took Blue from the shelter.

Anyone with information may call Paladino at (818) 8785544.