Two dogs attack, fatally injure La Pine horse

A La Pine resident was cited Wednesday after his two pit bulls escaped from a fenced area, got into a fenced pasture and attacked a horse, causing fatal injuries, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said.

The horse’s owner fired a warning shot to halt the attack, but shot and killed one dog when it wouldn’t stop, they said. The other ran away but was caught.

Deputies were called around 12: 30 a.m. Wednesday to a home on Pine Forest Drive on a report that two adult pit bull dogs had attacked a 27-year-old mustang-quarter horse cross, a mare named Princess, owned by Richard Beck of La Pine, said Lt. Mark Eggert.

Beck fired a warning shot in an attempt to scare the dogs away, but when one continued to attack the horse, the horse owner shot and killed the dog, a 3-year-old neutered male named Bully, Eggert said. The other dog, a 3-year-old female named Bailey, ran away.

The horse sustained “significant injuries” in the attack, “requiring the horse owner to euthanize the horse,” the lieutenant said in a news release.

An investigation by the sheriff’s office determined that the dogs were able to escape from a fenced area at a nearby home, Eggert said.

Deputies found the dog last seen running from the scene and contacted the owner, identified as Tony Maxwell, who surrendered Bailey to the Humane Society of Central Oregon.

Eggert said deputies “determined that the horse owner discharged his firearm in a safe manner and with the intent to protect his horse.”

Maxwell was cited on two counts each of killing, wounding or injuring livestock, a Class A violation, and animal nuisance, a Class B violation.