o.m.g. & w.t.f.??

So, the other night it was about 11 p.m. and Sparky and I were watching some shows we had dvred earlier. We were also doing the After Dark Kitty Roundup.  Everyone was in except Stanley Manley.

That's Stanley up there with his one blue eye and his one green eye and his spot on his nose.  He is quite the looker, he is.

Stanley was just chillin' on the front porch and observing whatever goes on at night in our front yard.

When all of a sudden we heard a loud dog barking right up against our front door!  This doesn't happen at our house.  Our dogs never and I mean NEVER go out front.  And we knew Stanley was out there so we were up and Sparky hit that front door like a shot!  I was right behind him.

And we found Stanley up in the flower beds with a pack of 5 large feral mutt dogs clamoring for him.  They quickly realized we meant business and they took off.  We could see them running down the street into the night.  After grabbing up Stanley and pitching him inside we surveyed the area to see what we could see.

I went inside and we checked Stanley over to see if he had any wounds or anything and he seemed to be all there.

The next thing I did was to get on my neighborhood HOA yahoo group site and make a report of the pack of dogs.

In the morning I checked my email and had damn near 20 responses of people who have seen these dogs doing the following:

A. Chasing an early morning jogger (reported by the jogger)

B. Chasing a cat

C. Chasing our neighborhood deer

D. Catching and killing one of the fawn

E. Killing a cat 2 streets over

F. Just this morning, mauling a cat who later died at the emergency vet's office

Now, I don't know about you but this scares the hell out of me.  We have a LOT of older residents who are not-so-swift, shall we say?  We have a fair amount of feral cats that have all been caught, neutered, vaccinated and returned to their locale.  And additionally, we have a lot of early morning walkers, joggers and some are with and without dogs. What I am saying is there are a ton of slow moving and unsuspecting potential victims of this pack of dogs.

Our neighborhood is older and established and has a lot of great hiding places for wildlife.  I have seen many a deer, possum, raccoon, and foxes.  We also have hawks, buzzards, owls and all the smaller birds.  But a pack of dogs that seem to have teamed up and gone feral?

The local Humane Society is right across the road from us.  And people gather up their unwanted pets and take them over there thinking they can just drop them off.  That's not the way they work.  You have to call ahead, you have to have an appt., you have to be there between certain hours and you have to pay or they won't take these poor animals.  And do you think those people are going to make the appointment and take the pets back home and care for them until the appointed day and hour?

Of course NOT!  They come across the street here and dump them in the green space and think they will fend for themselves.  Like a German Shepard or pit bull has ever lived in the wild and will recall how to find food, shelter and defend themselves.  It is interesting that domesticated animals that have no idea how to find food and all that will instinctively band together to form a pack and try to survive that way.

I am scared for my little old neighbor who walks all up and down our street every day looking out for all of us.  I am scared for my around the corner neighbor who has taken in so many abandoned little dogs and cats and walks them every day.  And the little kitties who are just trying to keep body and soul together till the end of their days?  Well, this is horrific for them.  They have no safe place to get indoors.

Everyone has called Animal Control Services, but they are so under-staffed who knows when they will get there.  And when they do?  No one seems to know where the dogs are denning up during the day to sleep to even find them.  This is not a good situation and I don't see a good outcome for those dogs at all.

Have any of you dealt with a similar occurence?  I am not sure what to do except to warn my neighbors with small pets, children and the elderly.

My cats have not been outside since this happened and not for the foreseeable future.  And I was looking into putting something out front for the deer as a water source for them, but I think I better not.  As much as I want to help them through this drought, it would be easy for the dogs to use it as an ambush location. And that would just kill me.  Dead.  Good Lord, this is just horrific.

Any ideas?