DAVIE, Fla. – The mayor of a South Florida town is devastated after her cat was mauled to death by two neighborhood dogs.
"I walked out this door and my cat Simba was lying here contorted, dead," Davie Mayor Judy Paul told Local 10.
Paul said Simba was like her child.
"That cat had 19 years of my life," Paul explained.
Not only was her beloved feline killed by two dogs roaming the neighborhood, but her donkeys, Roscoe and Buddy, were also victims of a bulldog and Rottweiler running loose.
"His face looked mutilated," Paul said. "He had blood coming from around his eyes, from his ears, from his neck."
As sad as she is, Paul's emotions are matched by her neighbor, who owns the dogs.
"They weren't where they were supposed to be, so I take the blame for that and I'm glad the donkeys are OK," neighbor Beverly Gaffney-Moraga said, adding that she was sorry it happened.
Gaffney-Moraga has received more than $2,000 in citations from Davie and Broward County and has agreed to pay all the veterinarian bills. She also voluntarily removed the dogs.
"I'm used to coming out and seeing my own animals, and I can't even do that," Gaffney-Moraga said. "They never have hurt anything. It was just a fluke thing."
Paul isn't so sure. Missing Simba and medicating her donkeys, Paul is concerned this may not be the last attack and believes the dogs should be euthanized.
"Yes, because once they have blood in their mouths, they're going to do it again," Paul said.
The dogs are currently in north Florida with family friends.