Tropical Gulf Acres residents are voicing growing concerns about a pair of dogs killing pets in the neighborhood.
Janette Hamilton and Jeri Kidd say they've reported several incidents involving these dogs, which they say have roamed freely despite multiple complaints to animal control.
“I never noticed it having a direct impact on me at the time until a year ago, September,” Kidd said. “They came up into my yard and brutally killed my cat. Animal control was called, filled out a report, and nothing was really done except the owners were fined because the dogs did not have rabies shots.”
Since then, residents say the problem has escalated. Hamilton claims there has been little effort from officials to address the issue.
Kidd says she witnessed another incident just weeks ago when the same dogs allegedly killed another animal in her yard.
“It's devastating. I mean, it's like losing your family member,” she said. "They didn't deserve to die with the blood screams, torn breasts and their legs, chewed in their throats and stuff that they did to these animals. It wasn't right. They died a terrible death."
Hamilton and Kidd say their neighborhood has seen numerous incidents, with neighbors frequently reporting similar encounters on social media.
"We've had multiple people, and until one of our neighbors actually caught the dogs killing their cat at their back door on video," Kidd said.
One video reportedly taken last Wednesday shows two dogs brutally killing a household cat on surveillance cameras.
Charlotte County Animal Control saw the video and is aware of the issue. The department said the owners have racked up thousands of dollars in fines due to the dogs' uncontrolled behavior.
Since the dogs have not attacked a human, animal control said they cannot confiscate them under Florida law because they do not meet the threshold for doing so.
NBC2 talked with the owner of the dogs, who says she has seen the videos of the killings and is apologetic to any owners that have lost their pets.
She said she is pet-sitting the dog that killed the cat in the surveillance video and plans to give it away soon.