Elaine Schaefer went for a horse ride last Friday evening, as she has done hundreds of times in the six years she’s lived in Princeville. On top Liko, a 7-year-old registered mare leased from a friend’s stable on Kapaka Road,
Elaine Schaefer went for a horse ride last Friday evening, as she has done hundreds of times in the six years she’s lived in Princeville.
On top Liko, a 7-year-old registered mare leased from a friend’s stable on Kapaka Road, Schaefer said she was heading in at about 5:45 p.m., riding near the rim overlooking the Hanalei Valley, when three pit bulls rounded the corner of the trail, “silent, heads down.”
The three dogs attacked Liko’s legs immediately and Schaefer and the horse went down.
“They drove her (Liko) over the edge of the canyon,” Schaefer said. “The dogs went with her.”
The horse was found the next morning, dead, in the brush more than 50 feet down from where she went over the canyon rim, Schaefer said.
As of Sunday afternoon, neither the dogs nor their owner had been located.
Kaua’i County Police have been notified and are investigating the incident.
“This is a leash law violation. My goal is to get some (stronger) legislation so that these type of animals are viewed as deadly weapons, just like guns or motor vehicles,” Schaefer said.
She said she had already notified members of the County Council and the mayor’s office about the incident.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
