SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Midtown family is rethinking where they can safely walk in their neighborhood after their family dog, a Chihuahua mix named Potato, was bitten by a dog owned by a man camping under the freeway.
"It's not the dog's fault, but that dog is aggressive," said Hernan De Los Santos, who was walking alongside Zoe Saenz and their baby boy Friday night when the attack happened. "I don't think it's very safe safe for anyone else to be walking through there either."
De Los Santos said Potato was bitten on the back by a pit bull, whose owner failed to intervene.
"I jumped in and I pulled this pit bull off of them, and luckily, he released him," De Los Santos said. However, he said the aggressive dog's owner then became hostile.
The family backed away and called both Sacramento Police Department and 311 for animal control, but after waiting more than 40 minutes for a response, left the scene to seek emergency treatment for Potato's wounds.
"We're like, OK, we can't just wait around for someone to show up... we have to go home. We sent our dog to the ER that night," De Los Santos said.
The Sacramento Police Department confirmed to ABC10 that they received a report of a dog biting another dog on the intersection of J and 30th Streets. The department said when officers checked the area, they were not able to locate the dog or its owner.
"It's sad that we even have to avoid certain parts of our city in fear of these altercations," said Saenz, who grew up in the Midtown area.
As of Sunday night, ABC10 has not heard back from Sacramento Animal Control about whether authorities have made contact with the aggressive dog or its owner.
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