A few years ago, Berkeley Repertory Theatre staged a wonderful production of Martin McDonagh’s black comedy, The Lieutenant of Inishmore. In the play, an IRA hit man goes on a killing spree when he thinks his beloved kitty has been killed. Over the course of the show, 12 gallons of (fake) human blood were spilled nightly to laughs and cheers, but the audience audibly gasped the moment a character held a gun to the head of the aforementioned feline. McDonadh’s point, that we’re aghast at violence towards animals but are often callous towards violence against our fellow humans, is something to attempt to keep in mind with stories like this one.
On the other hand, some dude allegedly just stone cold stabbed a dog. Which, if true, is completely insane.
In a conclusion sure to be unsatisfying to San Francisco’s community of friends of four legged friends, the man accused of repeatedly stabbing Lenny, the dog of a professional dog walker at Fort Funston last year, will probably not face charges. The case, which was submitted to federal prosecutors by the National Park Service, is apparently no longer active. As NPS Detective Robert Reidy told the Examiner, “There weren’t a lot of witnesses. The U.S. attorney doesn’t feel that the case is ready to take to court.”
Last year, the attack was the talk of the town. Allegedly, the dog walker was taking Lenny on a stroll along Fort Funston’s Sunset Trail when she passed a man walking a pit bull. The woman asked if the pit bull was neutered because San Francisco has a law, put in place after a spate of high-profile pit bull attacks, mandating that all pit bulls over eight weeks of age be spayed or neutered because doing so typically reduces a dog’s level of aggression.
The dog wasn’t neutered, so she asked the man to restrain his pooch while she and Lenny passed. She says she then turned around to see Lenny covered in blood and the man holding a knife. The man, who fled the scene immediately after the stabbing, was found by police who initially attempted to keep his identity a secret. He was later identified by local dog walkers as a man named Paul Fadis.
Fortunately, after a visit to the doggy ER, Lenny is alive and doing well.
Fadis has since gotten a lawyer who claims that his version of events significantly differs from the one being portrayed in the press. He has also retained the services of a private investigator to dig up dirt on Lenny the dog. Since the case may never be brought to trial, it looks like the public at large will never know whether or not Lenny really was a good boy.
Similar cases of people stabbing dogs have resulted in the guilty parties receiving sentences ranging from two years probation to a month in jail and 200 hours of community service.
Animal Care and Control attempted to visit Fadis at his home to check if the pit bull was neutered, but an agency spokeswoman said that, “the house was totally packed up…[and] he was moving to Sacramento.”
With no prosecution in sight and the alleged culprit high-tailing it out of town, the local dog-lover community is understandably going to be peeved about the case’s lack of resolution. It’ll also have a lot of dog owners looking over their shoulder when taking their pups out for a stroll.
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