Dover Township resident fatally shot Porter Pickles, a dog police say attacked a cat

A Dover Township resident fatally wounded a dog on Monday after it attacked one of his cats, according to Northern York County Regional Police.

However, the owner of the dog disputes the police report, saying her dog did not harass or kill cats and that other details of the report were also incorrect.

The police reported that a resident,called police to report that an unknown dog came onto his property in the 4500 block of Canal Road and began chasing his cats, according to a news release. While waiting for officers to arrive, the dog attacked one of the cats. It had the animal in its mouth and was shaking it, a news release states.

The resident, unidentified by police, feared for the cat's life and fired multiple shots at the 2-year-old dog. It was struck several times and later died from its injuries, police said.

The dog's owner, April Kirkpatrick, said her pet, Porter Pickles, was an Akita, not a Malamute as the police news release reported.

She said the veterinarian at the Mason-Dixon Animal Hospital reported four wounds in Porter's neck, back, stomach and rear.

She said she saw Porter in a neighbor's yard − he was friendly and went to visit their neighbors on Canal Road now and then − and called for him to come home because she was getting ready to go for a run. When she went to see whether Porter came home, she didn't see him. Then, she said, she heard two gunshots. She ran back to her home and then heard two more shots.

After he was shot, Porter wandered into a field, where Kirkpatrick found him. He was about a half-mile from her house. "He was trying to get home," she said.

She took him to the emergency vet in Shrewsbury − the only one open in the area − where Porter died. "He held on, but then he went into cardiac arrest," Kirkpatrick said. "He lost a lot of blood, but we tried very hard."

Police said the resident had reported unconfined dogs to authorities in the past, but this is the first time that one attacked his pets, the release states.

Kirkpatrick disputes that Porter attacked one of her neighbor's cats. "We have barn cats in our yard all the time, and he never killed one before," Kirkpatrick said. She also said Porter had a degenerative joint issue that prevented him from running.

She said the police told her that they did not see an injured cat on the neighbor's property. The police told her Porter had a cat in his mouth when the neighbor shot him. She said she asked, "How's the cat?" And the police officer told her they did not see it.

No charges will be filed, police said, citing the law that allows dogs to be killed if they are wounding or killing household pets.

"It is unfortunate that this event occurred, however, the owner of the cats was within his right to protect the lives of his animals," the news release states.

Kirkpatrick's family is taking the loss hard.

"This dog was a member of our family," she said.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Dover Twp. PA resident fatally shot dog police allege attacked a cat.