A four-year-old husky got loose from his backyard and went on a killing spree in the neighbourhood killing more than two dozen animals at a petting zoo in Utah.
The husky managed to kill a range of animals including chickens, ducks, peacocks, a turkey, a goose and a tortoise in just one backyard, a petting zoo run for kids with disabilities in Tooele.
Police caught the husky and her owner is now facing nearly 30 misdemeanor charges.
The biggest toll was at an animal farm owned by Trip Kiss who runs the petting zoo with his wife Kayley.
Kiss told TV station Fox 13 that he heard his motion senses go off in the early morning hours of Memorial Day last week.
When he went to look at the video, he saw a husky running around, targeting animals.
“He was chewing our goose that was at the back end there, he dug out the rabbits in their enclosure,” Kiss explained, pointing to his chicken coop area.
In the video, Kiss said the husky is carrying away two rabbits. It trots off camera and into the dark.
When Kiss caught on to what was happening, he said the husky had already killed several of his animals, including a trained goose.
The goose was so friendly,” Kiss said. “It would follow us around at renaissance fairs, charities.”
Kiss said the husky took the animals and scattered them in a 2-block radius around his home. He spotted the husky in his neighborhood with one of his chickens still alive in the dog’s mouth.
The dog continued to chew on it, and it died in the dog’s mouth, and he dropped it,” Kiss said.
He called police, and Tooele Police Sergeant Jeremy Hansen said they found out Kiss wasn’t the only animal owner affected.
A second lady from a couple houses down came and told the officers that 15 of her chickens had also been killed by the same animal,” Sgt. Hansen said.
It took a couple of hours, but they finally caught the husky and brought her to the shelter to contact the owner.
Mackenzie Morton said she got the call from the shelter to explain they had her 4-year old husky, Nikita.
Morton said Nikita went missing from her boyfriend’s home, which isn’t far from Kiss’ house.
I didn’t know where she went, because it was dark at night,” Morton explained.
She said she looked for Nikita, and came across a few dead chickens in a neighbor’s yard.
Nikita took off from there, Morton said, and Morton couldn’t find her after that. Morton said she didn’t want to wake the neighbors, so she kept the door cracked open at the house for Nikita to return.
I didn’t think she was going to go on a killing spree,” Morton said. “I did not know that, at all.”
She said what Nikita did left her in shock because her husky hasn’t acted like that before.
Morton is now offering an apology to the homeowners.
That’s not fair,” a choked up Morton said. “And I’m so sorry.”
She said she feels guilty and intends to pay for the damage. Police said it racks up to more than $1,350.
For Kiss, he said he isn’t mad at the dog. He explained that he’s more upset that more wasn’t done to catch the husky when she escaped or to alert the neighbors to the dead chickens right away.
He said he doesn’t want the dog to be put down.
I feel anger,” Kiss said. “I feel anger toward the owner, because she could have prevented this.”
Sgt. Hansen said the officer cited Morton with 27 counts of misdemeanor attacking animals and one count of misdemeanor animal running at large.
He said the city attorney is screening the case for the final charges.
Nikita is in a 10-day quarantine at the animal shelter. Sgt. Hansen said an administrative hearing will take place involving Morton, a lieutenant, the assistant chief and chief. He said the lieutenant, assistant chief and chief will determine what to do with the husky.
There are a few potential possibilities for Nikita’s future, Sgt. Hansen indicated. He said the husky could be deemed not a danger. In that case, he explained they’d release the dog back to her owner and nothing more would happen.
Sgt. Hansen said if they rule that the dog has the potential to be a dangerous animal, they will release her back to Morton with certain restrictions. Those restrictions include placing a lead on the dog at all times, the dog must remain on its property, and Morton would have to register the dog as a potentially dangerous animal within Tooele City limits.
He said it’s possible they could also rule that the husky has the potential to be a dangerous animal, but place the dog with a rescue instead. He said the police department would choose the rescue.
Lastly, the husky could be determined to be a danger. If that’s the case, he said the dog would be euthanized. Sgt. Hansen said they are still in the process of scheduling a hearing, and that the Tooele City Police Chief would decide what’s best for the community.
The petting zoo has now set up a GoFundMe page. The animals from the petting zoo were often brought to help teach kids at fundraising events including one called REACH Through Time Event. 
In addition, they had 2 Rabbits, Ducks and Chickens that were being worked with to eventually add and be able to bring out to the public.
On May 28th around 4am, a neighbors loose dog ransacked Trip & Kayleys yard, it went into the pen with the rabbits and fowl, killing most of them, including the Goose that had just became old enough and trained well enough to come out to events. As the morning went out, it was learned that 2 other homes had also had almost all their fowl killed by this dog.
According to video footage, the owner was fully aware just after 3am that her dog was out killing. The animal was caught just after 8am and turned over to police, in the front yard of it home and the owner did not come out. Later, the home was approached and asked if the dog was theirs and they denied the dog completely. There were over 30 animals killed while this dog was allowed to run free.
Police are now handling criminal charges against the owner, the dog is at the shelter under quarantine, Trip & Kayley and the other home owners have requested that a rescue come take the dog to keep it from getting putting down so it can get a proper home with proper training.
The owner, according to the GoFundMe page, refuses to help with any of the damages.
While legal action is being taken, we need to rebuild. These animals were more then farm animals, they were pets and friends. They were raised to be kid friendly, to help teach kids to not be scared of them and about them. To help bring back some of what is lost in cities nowadays.
These were more then pets, please help us rebuild and repair, any additional funds received will be given to the homes that received losses as well
h/t: Facebook Fox 13
