Staff writer
A dog running free killed a little girl’s pet rabbit last week in the 100 block of Roosevelt St. in Marion.
“It is unknown what kind of dog attacked the rabbit,” Marion assistant chief Clinton Jeffrey said. “All that was left was the aftermath.”
He said many dog prints were discovered around a cage where the rabbit was kept in the backyard.
“The cage gate had been ripped open,” Jeffrey said.
He did not release the name of little girl’s mother. Jeffrey said she was debating how to tell her daughter that her rabbit had been killed.
As of March, Marion police had investigated 19 incidents of dogs running free and 2 instances of vicious or prohibited dogs within city limits, and 14 animal complaints, which typically include deer, cats, skunks, opossums, cows, snakes, and dog-related incidents not covered by other areas, according to statistical information Jeffrey provided.
His 2016 report showed that police investigated 66 dogs running free, 1 vicious or prohibited dog, and 32 animal complaints.