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Greyhounds Quarantined After Biting Elderly Man, Killing His Dog

News Channel 8 image by JIM FARQUHAR

The greyhounds had no prior history with animal services and escaped from their home, investigators said.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 20, 2007

Updated: 12/21/2007 02:58 pm

SEMINOLE - Still a bit groggy from having just woken up, college student Tyler Maraia was told by his mother to go outside and help a man she saw in a ditch with some dogs late Thursday morning.

From the edge of the ditch, it merely looked as if a bunch of dogs was tangled up in the ditch, perhaps by their leashes, and that an elderly man was in the ditch with them, Maraia, 18, said.

When he jumped in, however, the aspiring lawyer realized two greyhounds were pulling apart a Yorkshire terrier as if in a tug of war and the terrier's 80-year-old owner was trying to stop them, Maraia said.

"He said, 'Help me, Help me. They are going to kill my dog,'" Maraia said.

Four to five greyhounds had escaped from their home nearby and attacked Richard Graeber at about 11:30 a.m. as Graeber was walking two Yorkshire terriers and a miniature collie, Pinellas County sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said.

Graeber suffered bite wounds on his hand, but the Yorkshire terrier being attacked died, said Barreda and Maraia.

Five greyhounds were under quarantine late Thursday, either in a veterinary facility or in their owners' home, and were expected to remain so for 10 days to determine whether they have rabies, said Welch Agnew, assistant director for veterinarian services with Pinellas County Animal Services.

No charges have been filed. The dogs have no prior history with animal services, and it appears they escaped from their owners' property as the result of an accident, Barreda said.

At the point Maraia jumped into the fray, one of the Yorkshire terriers and the miniature collie had escaped and run back to the Graeber home, just a couple of blocks away from the attack in the 10800 block of Huston Lane, Maraia said. Graeber had been knocked down in the ditch with his remaining pet.

All told, there were four greyhounds in the ditch with Graeber and his Yorkshire terrier when he jumped in, Maraia said. Maraia said that when he pulled the collar of one of the greyhounds with the terrier in its mouth, Graeber told him to stop for fear he would inadvertently cause more injury to the terrier.

Graeber told Maraia to put his hands around the dog's throat and try choking the dog instead. At about that time, Graeber managed to free the terrier from one of the greyhounds and got bitten for the effort. But another greyhound, had the terrier by the throat and started "twirling it around like a rag dog." Graeber pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed that greyhound in the neck, Maraia said.

All four greyhounds then retreated as Maraia and Graeber brought the terrier to the Maraias' front porch, Maraia said. "The old guy he was in a lot of shock. He realized that was it. There was nothing we could do about it," Maraia said.

After he was treated at the scene for bites to his hand, Graeber was taken to a hospital by a family member, Barreda said.

The four greyhounds seen by Maraia, plus one other owned by the same couple — Joseph Eisbacher and Katherine Koufas-Eisbacher, of 14845 Wildwood Drive — were quarantined, authorities said. One of them does not have an up-to-date rabies vaccination, Agnew said.

One — a 4-year-old male named Dakota whose vaccination expired in January 2007 — and Iris, the 8-year-old female stabbed by Graeber, are being quarantined at a veterinary hospital, Agnew said. All Joseph Eisbacher would say today is that Iris is recuperating nicely.

Three others — Rachel, an 8-year-old female; Max, an 11-year-old male; and Tootsie, an 8-year-old female — are under quarantine at the Eisbacher home, he said.

If they are alive after the 10-day quarantine, they do not have rabies, Agnew said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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