Redondo Beach resident Debbie Bina said she will never forget the sound of a small dog screeching while caught in the jaws of a pit bull.

Bina and her husband George rushed the pet and its owner to the emergency animal hospital, but the little dog did not survive.

The pit bull is now being held at the Carson Animal Shelter, pending identification of its owner, who police have still not located.

Bina, who lives on South Juanita Avenue near Agate Street, was horrified the afternoon of Aug. 11 when she heard screeches and screaming and someone yelling, “Get off, get off.”

“When I first heard it, I thought it was domestic violence,” she said.

As she came into the street, Bina saw a pit bull terrier off leash with a small mixed-breed dog in its mouth. The small dog was on a leash and the owner, who could not be reached for comment, was yelling at the pit bull to release him, she said.

So, Bina rushed to the scene and struck the pit bull with her hand trying to get it to let go of the man’s pet. But the dog kept its grip. Then other neighbors arrived to help.

“Nobody could figure out how to get the dog out of the pit bull’s mouth,” Bina said.

By then her husband came out of the garage with a golf club and struck the pit bull, which finally caused it to release the small dog.

At the animal hospital, doctors told them it would likely cost $10,000 to save the pet and even then its recovery was not guaranteed. That’s when the decision was made to euthanize the animal.

Pit bull locked up

After the pit bull finally released the dog, it ran for about a block before neighbors corralled the animal and called animal control.

The dog had no identifying tags. It was not registered with the city and it did not have a microchip, according to Sgt. Jeff Mendence, who heads the Redondo Beach Police animal control and parking enforcement unit.

“It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure their dog is contained,” Mendence said. “I don’t know how this dog got loose, but people have a responsibility for their animals and they need to make sure they are enclosed, and when they aren’t that they are on a leash so that incidents like this don’t happen.”

In 2017, the Redondo Beach police received 26 reported involving dogs biting either other dogs or people. Out of those, 10 incidents were dog-on-dog and one resulted in a fatality.

“In that incident the dog that was killed was off a leash and it ran down a driveway and was bitten by a dog on a leash,” Mendence said.

This year, there have been 15 dog-related incidents and seven of them were dog-on-dog. The pit bull terrier mix involved in this recent incident will be held at the animal shelter until police can identify the owner, at which time an administrative hearing would take place, Mendence said.

A similar administrative hearing in July 2017 resulted in a pit bull being declared “potentially dangerous” and ordered removed from Redondo Beach.

Police are asking if anyone has information about the owner of the pit bull involved in the recent attack to call Sgt. Jeff Mendence at (310) 379-2477.