A bloodthirsty dog has been terrorizing a Long Island community, savagely tearing defenseless cats limb from limb – but nobody can stop the murderous canine because its owner is politically connected, neighbors charge.
Aries – who’s half-pit bull and half-Rottweiler and owned by Maryellen Feiler, a former city of Long Beach worker – has killed at least five kitties there, according to residents.
And they say that even through Aries has been locked up time and time again in a local animal shelter, he’s always released to raise hell again because of Feiler’s pull.
“This dog came up on my porch and grabbed my daughter Jessie’s cat Cupcake last week,” said Joe Sarkin, who lives on Pine Street.
“Our cat is de-clawed and couldn’t defend herself. The dog tore her apart. My daughter found her on a neighbor’s lawn. She’s devastated. Do you know what a terror this is? How many cats does it have to kill?”
Aries is now in custody for that incident and Sarkin and others have banded together to demand the killer dog be put down or be confined for good.
And some politicians are starting to listen.
The 3-year-old mixed breed “is a serial cat killer,” said Long Beach City Councilwoman Mona Goodman.
“I think it’s a danger. The problem is it hates cats and it kills them.”
But Long Beach officials insist they don’t have the proof they need to put Aries to sleep – which neighbors say is a lame excuse to hide the fact that Feiler has them in her pocket.
Still, there have been developments this week.
The administrator of the local animal shelter was fired as a result of disciplinary charges, possibly for failing to officially note that Aries was rounded up more than five times – and then set free.
Shelter officials won’t give a reason for the axing.
But Goodman confirmed the shelter head “never made any records because this was Maryellen Feiler’s dog. Perhaps there was a pattern of cover-up because of her political affiliations.”
She added: “The lack of records is working against us.”
Feiler’s husband, John, claims the cats came to his house and were “taunting” Aries, who chased them like any normal canine would do.
He also denied charges of a political fix and said Aries had been “very agitated” ever since his son left to join the Marine Corps.
“I’m going to lose my homeowners’ insurance and my son’s dog is going to be euthanized,” John Feiler fumed.
Long Beach Corporation Counsel Charles Theofan said he’s suggested a compromise that might save the dog’s life – putting Aries up for adoption to someone who lives outside of the city.
But neighbors worry the proposed solution would simply be “wishing the problem on somebody else.”