Daughter of owners of 2 dogs that killed emu in McKeesport speaks out
The daughter of the owners of the two dogs that killed a family's pet emu in McKeesport said she can't justify what happened to the animal.
Cellphone video shows the two dogs chasing after the emu, named Barb, on Ravine Street on Tuesday. The pair of dogs then killed the 160-pound, 6-foot-tall animal. David Callos, one of the owners of the emu, called it a "hunting."
On Wednesday, Constance Alexander, the daughter of the dogs' owners, spoke with KDKA-TV about what happened. She said the dogs are not "dangerous" to people before adding the dogs are dangerous to "chickens and probably large birds."
"They weren't loose, actually," Alexander said of the dogs, named Myra and JJ. "So, my mom, we have a basement door straight to our backyard, and we have a chain-link fence right here that blocks them from coming up here."
Jerry Stroman said this was not the first time the dogs have killed other animals. Stroman said the dogs came into his sister's yard and killed chickens last year.
"They got in here and killed nine chickens one night," said Stroman, one of the emu's owners. "It was a massacre."
The family reinforced the fence for the emus, but said the dogs are persistent, jumping on it and pushing it down. The McKeesport Police Department said authorities, including animal control and the dog warden, are reviewing the incident. The dogs are still living next door.
"I want those two dogs put down before I have to," Stroman said. "They have been a menace to the birds. They have an affinity toward killing things."
Alexander told KDKA-TV that if the dogs need to be put down, "we will put them down."
"They are not vicious," she added. "That is the weird part. I have two young babies in there. I've watched these kids crawl all over these dogs."
The family who owns the emus said there are five left in McKeesport, and they are moving them to another location for safety reasons. Stroman says the emus are used for breeding.
