'Mutilated in the spot where he sleeps': 4 alpacas dead after dog attack at farm

For years, Beth Lutz has told visitors touring her alpaca farm all about the animals she’s used for their fiber for nearly two decades, including how dogs are one of their natural predators.

But “in 17 years, we’ve never seen a (stray) dog walk on our property,” Lutz said.
That changed Friday, when two dogs from a nearby neighborhood entered Painted Spring Farm in the 200 block of Roth Church Road in Jackson Township and attacked several of her alpacas.

One of the two dogs, a rottweiler mix, police confirmed, killed two alpacas and injured three others.

More:Photos: Local first grader campaigns for a dog park in downtown York

"The two that were killed probably were killed because they were so friendly," Lutz said.

Two of the three that were injured had to be euthanized by the veterinarian.

The third injured alpaca has visible injuries to his head. On Monday, three days after he was attacked, the injured alpaca, named Gahanna after a town in Ohio that Lutz was visiting when he was born, seemed very skittish and somewhat dazed. Flies swirled around the injured side of his head.

Lutz’s husband, Neal, made the horrifying discovery Friday morning. He was inside the couple’s home, which sits across the road from their barn and pastures, and he saw three alpacas lying scattered in the pasture, and a fourth a distance away, with a dog standing over it.

More:Fuzzy, adorable baby alpaca brings joy to farm days after 4 alpacas killed in dog attack

Lutz ran from the house, his slippers flung from his feet as he darted to the pasture. He tried to scare the dog away, but the dog was unmoved.

So Lutz reached down and grabbed the dog’s collar and got him into a stall in the barn.
“He didn’t resist,” Neal Lutz said.

A second dog appeared from a wooded area on the property, and Neal Lutz was able to grab that dog, which police said was a husky, and got it into the barn as well.

Beth Lutz said she didn’t hear her husband yelling for her at first, but when he got close to the house she could hear him screaming. She called the police.

Police and the veterinarian came out to the farm.

More:From birth to sweater, these alpacas roam the farm

"The saddest part was my one sweet, friendly guy was just mutilated in the spot where he sleeps," Beth Lutz said. "It was so horrifying, I couldn't believe they (the injured alpacas) could still be alive."

Northern York County Regional Police Officer Matthew Straub told the Lutzes he would have animal control respond to the farm, Neal Lutz said.

But as the Lutzes were with the veterinarian, putting the second of the two injured alpacas down, Neal Lutz saw Officer Straub leading the dogs’ owner to where they were confined in the barn.

“I guess the thing that upset me about the whole thing is the owner came here and took his dogs,” Neal Lutz said. “We don’t know anything about this guy. What is to prevent these dogs from getting out again?”

Although the Lutzes hadn’t been informed of it, Lt. Gregg Anderson with Northern Regional said there’s nothing court-mandated that says if a dog bites a person or another animal that the dog warden or police must seize the dog.

“If we have no record of this ever happening before, the dog stays with the dog owner,” Anderson said. The owner must keep the dog quarantined from other dogs for 10 days, Anderson said. After that time, the police go and check on the dog.

There is also a court process.

More:Fuzzy, cute alpacas compete at York Expo

In this case, the dogs’ owner, Zachary Allen Neiman of Pigeon Hill Road, was cited with two summary counts of "confined within premises of the owner," since his dogs got loose off of his property, and one summary offense of "harbor dangerous dog - kill/injures domestic animal."

Anderson said it was his understanding that only the rottweiler mix had attacked the alpacas, so that’s why there was only one of those citations.

Both the rottweiler mix and the husky mix were licensed and had their rabies shots, Anderson said. They live in the 6400 block of Pigeon Hill Road, he noted.

Neiman, who could not be reached for comment, can either plead guilty, pay the fines and comply with the dangerous dog law if he chooses to keep his rottweiler and not have it euthanized, or he can argue his case in front of a judge, Anderson said.
Either way, the dog law says “the dog owner is always responsible for damages their dogs create,” Anderson said.

Beth Lutz has a business selling alpacas and the wares she creates from their fiber. She said two of the alpacas that were killed had recently been sold to people who were getting some things in order before arranging to pick them up.

She estimated the financial loss of the four alpacas at probably more than $10,000. She had no idea what her veterinarian bill will be.

The emotional cost has been impossible to calculate. Beth Lutz had to call the family of a little girl who was soon set to show one of the alpacas that was killed and give them the news. 

More:Missing: York County man was last seen in Manchester Township, state police say

The Lutzes raised three of the alpacas that were killed from babies, and the fourth they got when he was very young and had him for about eight years.

The Lutzes have fortified the fence around the alpaca pasture. They are grateful the dogs didn't attack any of their female alpacas or the babies, which are kept in a separate area on the other side of their barn.

They are worried the dogs could return.

"I can't even imagine how scared they were," Beth Lutz said, looking at the herd of male alpacas. 

She feels conflicted, too.

"I'm heartbroken, and what really makes me sad is that these dogs were probably this guy's pets," Beth Lutz said. "In a way, it seems weird, I'm very sad that it happened to (the dog's owner) and that it happened to us. I feel bad for all parties involved."

But, she added, "if I saw that carnage and my dog did that, I'd have to put the dog down."