Dogs kill six alpacas, llama

One dog killed, dispute between neighbors escalates

By FRITZ MAYER

FORESTBURGH, NY — A dog that had entered a pen full of alpacas and was attacking them was killed by five shots, but that was in the wake of an earlier attack by three dogs that killed six valuable alpacas and a llama. The first attack came on October 19 at Stuart Salenger’s sprawling estate in Forestburgh.

Salenger, who owned a herd of 102 alpacas and several llamas as well as numerous other animals, said the incident started at about 1:30 a.m., and the employees at his estate heard screaming coming from the animals in the pen. They went out and saw what they thought were three animals, most likely dogs, run from the pen. At least one of the dogs knew a spot in the 10-foot high chain link fence that he could slip under.

In all, nine alpacas and one llama had been attacked by the dogs. Salenger said six of the alpacas and the llama, which essentially serves as a protector of the smaller alpacas, died from their wounds.

Salenger said he then notified the sheriff’s office and other authorities, but also took the precaution of having his men patrol the grounds at night armed with .22 caliber rifles. On Sunday night, a week after the attack, Salenger said his employees saw a single dog in the pen. He said his men put five bullets into it before it went down.

Salenger was not at the estate at the time, but he called lawmaker Leni Binder, who went to the scene. It turned out that the downed dog was registered to Ben Wechsler. Wechsler is a wealthy landowner who initially sold Salenger some of his parcels in the town. But after a disagreement about deed restrictions and other issues, the two men are currently locked in three separate legal battles.

Eric Chaboty, the undersheriff of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed the deaths of the alpacas and the dog, and said that the dog was registered to Wechsler.

Wechsler also confirmed it, saying, “Yeah, he murdered my dog,” but he refused to discuss the incident further on the record.

Another neighbor, Peter Bertine, in a letter to the editor of The Times Herald Record, placed blame for the incident on the Sullivan County Legislature, the NY Department of Environmental Conservation and the Cornell Cooperative Extension for allowing the agricultural district to be expanded to include Salenger’s properties in what Bertine called a residential area. The neighborhood is heavily forested, houses are generally remote from one another, and most of the lots are quite large.

Bertine said that the dead dog had been let out “to go to the bathroom.” According to Chaboty, it is a misdemeanor in Sullivan County for a dog to be off a leash on property other than one’s own.

Lawmaker Leni Binder took serious exception to Bertine’s letter, and sent her own letter out to news organizations, which said, in part, “this is NOT a pet that someone accidentally let loose in their yard to do its thing—in this case, its THING was attacking domestic animals and more than once.”

Bertine told The River Reporter the dog that had been shot, and another dog, were Belgian Malinois that he had rescued from a farm in Indiana in April where they had lived alongside farm animals such as cows and horses in very unhealthy circumstances. He said he rehabilitated both dogs and they were adopted by Wechsler, and Wechsler is trying to find a new home for the remaining dog.

Salenger said some of the animals he lost were quite valuable. Four of the alpacas were breeding females that had been raised at the farm, and some breeding alpacas are worth up to $50,000 each.

And, he warns, at least one of the attacking dogs is still out in the area running loose.

Since purchasing the estate five years ago, Salenger has ingratiated himself with many officials and residents of the county, and has given generously to various causes and opened his home for public functions. His farming operation has been lauded by many officials as being innovative and state of the art.

But some of his closest neighbors in Forestburgh have objected strongly to having a farm with livestock in their midst, and they want him to take his animals and leave town.