Residents outside of Cleveland, Texas, say they are living in fear as threatening, feral dogs roam their city.
Stray dogs infiltrated the county just over two months ago, locals told Click2Houston. With no animal control organization in Liberty County, locals are afraid to go outside.
One woman told the outlet that she was just leaving her house for work Thanksgiving Day, when about eight dogs approached her. “I was attacked and it was completely unprovoked,” she recounted.
Days later, a stream of blood is still visible outside her home. Her neighbor eventually stepped in and came to her aid.
“I feel every bite, I remember every ripping of the dogs heads and and I just thank god that a neighbor came out and got them off of me because I may have been dead,” she said. “The same dogs that have attacked me have attacked Amazon drivers, have attacked Terminix employees on this same street.”
In a separate incident, a man was bitten and bruised by a pack of dogs on Thanksgiving as he was trying to help a delivery driver avoid being attacked by the canines, one woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told the outlet.
The attack on her cousin has made her afraid to step out of her home.
“I don’t have a life, I can’t go out, I’m constantly scared about leaving my house. Coming home at night I have to stay in my car for 35 minutes to an hour to make sure these dogs are not around,” she said.
The issue appears to be so prevalent that Click2Houston’s camera crew captured a feral dog attack while reporting on the story. In the footage, a feral dog can be seen biting the owners’ leashed dogs as the owner tries to knock the stray dog off of his own.
There is no animal control division in the county, but Liberty Sheriff’s Office suggested residents shoot the dogs if they feel threatened, a sheriff’s office captain told the outlet. Sheriff’s deputies often respond to 911 calls about stray dog incidents, but the dog in question is often on the move by the time deputies arrive at the scene, he added.
This problem is amplified by nearby city animal control workers trying to help out, since they are coming from even farther away, adding more time for dogs to flee the scene, the outlet noted.
Between December 2023 until December 2024 deputies have responded to 377 calls about dog bites, loose or stray dogs, and other animal problems, Captain Robert Dunn told The Independent.
“There are stray and roaming dogs throughout Liberty County,” he reported.
Without an Animal Control Division, there is not much that can be done about stray animals.,” added Dunn, who said officials work closely with area organizations of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to deal with animal cruelty and other cases.
