Dominic Vigil, 33, of Santa Fe faces multiple misdemeanor charges of keeping dogs that killed livestock and several charges of letting his animal run at large. On Friday, he appeared in court for the first time, waiving his right to an attorney and saying he would represent himself at a trial in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.
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| The pony was chased, attacked and mauled to death in its pen. |
In attendance Friday were 20 people who live in the area around Vigil’s house, just west of N.M. 599, who came to support the family that lost a pet goat and horse in May. Jessica and Manolo Victor owned the 600-pound pony, Henry, and kept him in a circular horse pen along with the goat.
On May 12, Vigil’s American pit bull terriers, which were restrained by an invisible electric fence, escaped Vigil’s property and got into the Victors’ horse pen, killing the goat. The Victors reported the incident to animal control officers, who said they couldn’t confiscate the dogs unless they had a court order to remove the dogs from Vigil’s property, according to the Victors.
Six days after the goat was killed, the Victors said, three dogs returned at night and mauled their pony. Manolo Victor said he heard the dogs barking at about 5 a.m. and rushed out to see them running back to Vigil’s property, leaving behind the bloodied family pet. Fearing that he, too, might be attacked, he drove over to Vigil’s house and blasted his car horn until Vigil emerged from the house, Manolo Victor said.
According to a written petition by the Victors to the Santa Fe County Commission, Manolo Victor told Vigil his dogs had killed their pony, and he threatened that if Vigil didn’t shoot the dogs, he would.
“It happens,” Vigil responded, according to the petition. “Shoot them all.”
Manolo Victor shot and killed a male pit bull, causing the other dogs to flee. The Victors and several neighbors said Tuesday that the carcass of that dog remained on the property for three weeks.
Vigil said after the hearing that he doesn’t think he is at fault in the deaths of the goat and the pony.
Vigil said he installed a $3,000 invisible electric fence to contain the dogs and had personally trained the dogs to remain within the fence.
“I’ve never had any problem with it,” Vigil said.
Several neighbors, however, rebutted that claim, saying the dogs had crossed the fence line on several occasions. The Victors are trying to convince Santa Fe County to enforce stricter laws on enclosing potentially dangerous animals.
When asked if he thought his dogs were vicious, Vigil said he believes they were “protective.”
“The nature of a pit bull is to be protective, protective against other animals,” he said.
Santa Fe County continues to hold two of Vigil’s pit bulls, along with six puppies, at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society. A judge will decide whether the pit bulls are legally vicious and whether they should be euthanized. A judge also will decide whether the puppies will be given up for adoption or returned to Vigil.
Vigil said Friday that he’s been breeding pit bulls for 10 years, and his Facebook page advertises a recent litter of newborn puppies as United Kennel Club purple ribbon American pit bull terriers — meaning both parents were UKC certified — and prices them at $150 each.
Vigil also owns Enchantment Roofing Service in Santa Fe.
Other reports have been filed concerning Vigil’s dogs in the past two years, including a report of a pit bull attack near Vigil’s business off Siler Road near Agua Fría Street. Santa Fe police said three pit bulls at that location attacked a small dog on May 14, but officers haven’t been able to confirm whether those dogs were the same ones involved in the attacks on the Victors’ animals.
Another neighbor of Vigil, Audrey Ballew, said one of his pit bulls attacked her Labrador puppy, Dixie, in her yard about two years ago. After fighting off the pit bull with a rake, Ballew’s husband shot and killed the pit bull. Ballew’s dog survived but has a permanent limp.
Jessica Victor, the mother of three boys, said she is dismayed by Vigil’s lack of empathy for his neighbors and his dogs. She said there are six children — all under the age of 6 — living in close proximity to Vigil’s property.
The trial will also determine who is responsible for the cost of housing the dogs at the Santa Fe animal shelter — the county or Vigil.
A trial date has not been set.
(Santa Fe New Mexican.com - June 28, 2013 )
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