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Two dogs ordered destroyed after mauling man
Posted at: 06/15/2012 11:53 PM
By: Dan Levy
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PITTSTOWN - There's a huge sigh of relief for residents of Tory Hill Road in Pittstown after a town judge Friday night ordered two menacing Pitt bulls to be "put down" first thing Saturday morning.
The judge's order comes just two days after a man was seriously mauled, and several years after neighbors say the dogs began terrorizing their neighborhood.
Jim Seror remained at Albany Medical Center Friday night. His daughter, Nicole, says it'll be a "long, slow recovery" after her father was bitten more than 100 times by a pair of Pitt bulls owned by Jim's sister-in-law.
Kathy Seror never uttered a word before speeding away from Pittstown Court Friday night, after a judge had just ordered two of her Pitt bulls to be "put down" first thing Saturday morning.
Relieved neighbors say it should have been done a long time ago.
"Over the years they've gotten more and more aggressive," Gordon Bushway says about the dogs owned by Kathy and Art Seror, who live directly across the road from him.
At one time the Seror's owned five Pitt bulls although that number dropped by one last autumn.
"In November, on Thanksgiving Day, the dogs bit my son at my house and attacked him," said Bushway.
"When Gordie called me up and told me that Greg was attacked by the dogs, I had enough," Ed Kepner, the Seror's next door neighbor, recalled.
That's when Kepner ran into his house, got a gun, returned outside and shot and killed a dog that he says was running right at him.
The other dog that wasn't killed in November was supposed to be taken away by the animal control officer but when he went to pick up the dog, he was told it ran away.
"I think town officials dropped the ball," Kepner opined. "I think Mrs. Seror has been deceitful on this whole thing. The dog involved with this attack (on Jim) is the same dog that was involved with the attack on Thanksgiving Day."
Other neighbors have their own horror stories.
"They chased down our school bus once," recalled 9-year old Gabriel Pavone, who also lives on Tory Hill Road. "We waited a half an hour for them to stop.
Five year old Juniper Getman says she gets frightened when she sees the dogs in her neighborhood because "they're kind of scary."
Wilbert Harris has lived on Tory Hill Road for 44 years and says he's had to carry a big stick with him when he does yard work in case the dogs wander onto his property.
"They move so fast, three or four dogs running, you ain't got a chance," Harris says, "You many not get to the house."
Even though they were pleased with the decision to euthanize the two dogs, neighbors felt the judge didn't go far enough, since he never addressed the issue of future pet ownership.
"I don't see any reason why this family should be allowed animals again," Kepner says.
""I don't think they should ever have pets, cats or dogs," Bushway added.
In addition to the two animals that will be destroyed, Town Justice Kenneth Marbot also ordered a behavioral evaluation on a third Pitt bull -- to be done in the coming days.
Depending on the result, that dog too could be put down, or it could be returned to Kathy Seror.
