TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Man says he slashed American bulldog with machete in self-defense

This photo was taken before the dog's ear was cut off with a machete.

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 11, 2009

Updated: 07/11/2009 04:16 pm

An enormous white delivery truck fills the driveway of James Pascal's house in the Sulphur Springs neighborhood in Tampa.

Inside the boxy vehicle, Pascal has installed industrial grade grill and deep fryer in hopes of turning the aging truck into a rolling kitchen serving Caribbean cuisine to all comers.

The truck rehab, which is far from finished, is just one more attempt by Pascal to breathe new life into something used and abused.

Pascal says his latest rehab project – socializing a poorly treated American bulldog -- landed him in jail Friday when neighbors told authorities he attacked the dog with a machete.

Pascal, 31, whose given name is Clopinel, lives at 8506 N. 17th St. Standing in the cluttered yard of his small house Saturday morning, Pascal denied Hillsborough County Animal Services' claim, based on a neighbor's report, that he lured the 2-year-old dog onto his property so he could attack it with the machete and a pipe.

Pascal said he had taken in the dog three days earlier after the dog's previous owner abandoned it at his next door neighbor's house.

Pascal's neighbor, Tamesha Kelly, said a friend left the dog with her on July 4 promising to return for it but never did.

"I took the dog to nurture the dog," Pascal said. "You look at a dog and you know it's a bad dog. But you say, 'maybe I can bring it back.'"

Pascal has a deep faith in second chances.

He got his own second chance at life as a 12-year-old growing in Miami. That's when, he said, he was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer that typically kills its victims before they reach adulthood.

Doctors saved Pascal's life with a largely untested surgery that removed the cancerous long bone in his right leg. Doctors in Boston attached his lower leg to his hip with his foot pointing backward, a procedure known as a turnplasty. Pascal was one of the earliest recipients of the surgery.

That surgery turned his right ankle into a new knee, letting Pascal get around smoothly on a prosthetic lower leg.

In 2004, Pascal visited Tampa resident Alyson Degnan in the hospital after she had undergone the same surgery. Degnan died a few months later from the same cancer that claimed her thighbone.

Both Pascal and Kelly said they had concerns about the dog, which Pascal called "Princess," because it had several bite marks on its back indicating it might have been used in fighting.

"We didn't know she'd been fighting the dog until we saw the marks on its back," Kelly said of the dog's previous owner.

Pascal said he had hoped to rehabilitate the dog, in part by socializing it with his own 12-month-old pit bull mix.

"I wanted to make her a regular house dog, able to defend the yard," Pascal said.

Vick, a former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, went to jail last year after being convicted on charges related to his involvement in dog fighting.

Pascal said the older dog attacked him at about 2:30 p.m. as he tried to tie it up in his back yard ahead of a cookout with his neighbors. Pascal said the younger dog, called "Sasha," rushed to his defense.

The dog fight spilled into the fenced-in front yard of Pascal's home. Pascal said he picked up the machete to defend himself in case the older dog turned on him as he tried to break the two animals apart.

Pascal said he struck the older dog with the machete, which he said was dull. After that, the injured dog escaped down the street, Pascal said.

Animal Services officials took both dogs into the custody after Pascal's arrest.

Pascal said he is against dog fighting.

"I had a [Michael] Vick shirt," Pascal said. "I threw it away – a $110 jersey."

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT