Advertisement Pit bull kills border collie on Wollaston Beach By Neal Simpson, The Patriot Ledger Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A Wollaston woman says she watched in horror Wednesday night as a pit bull pulled free of its owners and killed a border collie that had been sitting with its elderly owner on a wall at Wollaston Beach.Carrie Parker told The Patriot Ledger she was going for a walk with her fiance near the Clam Box around 6:45 p.m. when she saw a man in roller blades with a pit bull on a leash heading down the sidewalk toward a man sitting with his collie. Parker said the pit bull lunged at the collie - knocking over the man on roller blades - and sank its teeth into the other dog's throat.Parker said the pit bull didn't let go until the collie was dead. She said the attack happened at a time when the beach was crowded with families and children enjoying the warm weather."It was horrifying," she said. "There were a ton of kids there at the beach. That thing could have hurt a child, but instead the dog killed an elderly gentlemen's dog."State Police arrived at about 6:15 p.m. They said the pit bull's owner, a 44-year-old Quincy man, couldn't control the dog because he was on roller blades.The owner also told police the pit bull was not registered with the city.The pit bull, which is 8 years old, was turned over to Quincy Animal Control for an observation period.The other dog, identified as a 10-year-old mixed-breed, belonged to an 83-year-old Ludlow man. He injured his arm trying to rescue his dog.Steven Ahern, a Quincy resident who had been walking along the sidewalk behind the roller blader moments before the attack, said the pit bull had appeared calm and under control up until the moment it lunged at the collie."Once this dog saw this other dog something snapped, and that was it," he said.Ami Bowen, spokeswoman for the Animal Rescue League of Boston, said a state trooper who heads the league's Center for Animal Protection also went to the beach to offer assistance.Parker's fiancee, Henry Piel, said he was appalled by the attack, which took place just feet in front of him, and wants the state's Department of Recreation and Conservation to consider banning all dogs from Wollaston or just pit bulls specifically."That could have been a person, a human being," he said. "The whole thing was surreal."