Victoria, Texas

From the Victoria Advocate of May 3, 2007

Man's wounds healing after being bit by stray dog

Lance Grote holds no anger toward the dog that bit him last week.

He reserves that disgust for the person or people who abandoned the canine.

Grote, 38, was bitten Thursday by a dog that was roaming around the Hidden Valley subdivision in rural Victoria. He learned Monday from Animal Control that the dog tested negative for rabies.

The dog was shot and killed in a field near the intersection of Deer Trot and Gentle Breeze drives Friday by David Walton, who lives on a neighboring street. The dog had been wandering around the neighborhood with another dog, which also was shot and killed. Grote and other residents said the dogs were strays.

Sgt. Mike Williams with the Victoria County Sheriff's office said the law allows people to shoot an animal in self-defense, so long as they do not violate any firearms regulations and local laws. But no one can just indiscriminately shoot animals, he said.

Grote said the sheriff's office gave residents the OK to shoot the animals if they posed a threat, so neighbors "took it upon themselves to hunt them down."

Walton said the dog that bit Grote appeared to be a "three-quarter pit bull/Labrador cross."

"He had been chased all day, so he knew people were out to get him," Walton said.

The other dog also appeared to have some pit bull pedigree, he said.

Grote was doing some yard work when the dog approached him from behind and bit him, he said. The bite left about a 1-inch gash and two punctures wounds on his left leg below the calf.