Terrier dies of injuries after Montgomery Woods incident
By: Jake Uitti
MONTGOMERY An incident involving a fatal attack of one dog on another in the Montgomery Woods development is heading for a court hearing Dec. 20.
A 16-pound terrier mixed breed named Mattie died two days after the attack, according to her owner, Sandy Favilla, who told police she sustained a puncture wound on a thumb, requiring a tetanus shot, and her other dog, Pete, also sustained puncture wounds requiring medical attention.
Charged in the incident is Jane Nackman, also of Montgomery Woods, owner of a shepherd-pit bull mixed breed named Buster. Ms. Nackman is being charged by the township’s animal control officer with having a potentially dangerous dog and failure to control the dog.
According to Ms. Favilla’s account to police, she was walking with her two dogs on Brookline Court on Nov. 8 with Pete on a leash and Mattie, because of her age, in a pouch across her chest. She told police two dogs came out of a house on Brookline Court and ran toward her, and one of them started attacking her dog on the leash. She was trying to separate the dogs when Mattie fell out of the pouch and was attacked.
Ms. Favilla said in the report to police that a man and a boy came out of the house where the attacking dog came from and assisted her. Ms. Favilla then took Mattie to Animerge in Somerville for immediate care with the help of friend Diane Abala, another Montgomery Woods resident.
"Sandy asked for the owners (of Buster) to take her to the hospital after the attack at the bottom of the development, but the people wouldn’t take her," said Ms. Abala.
According to Mattie’s regular veterinarian, Christine A. Newman of the Harlingen Veterinary Clinic, who received reports from Animerge and Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, the dog sustained broken ribs, a diaphragmatic hernia, severe shock and muscle tears. These injuries, Ms. Newman said, "suggest that the attack was very aggressive."
Ms. Favilla, citing advice from her attorney, declined to comment on the pending court case.
The Friday before the fatal attack, Buster bit another neighborhood dog, named Edgar, according to a statement that police attributed to Ms. Nackman.
In the police report, Ms. Nackman said Buster had never been aggressive before that week in any community since she adopted him two years ago.
Ms. Nackman moved to Montgomery Woods in October and is renting her home from Lorna Drummond, according to Dawn Cariello, a resident of Montgomery Woods. A letter from the board of trustees of the Montgomery Woods Homeowners Association was sent to Ms. Drummond informing her of the incident.
The letter outlined provisions of living in the Montgomery Woods neighborhood, namely that residents cannot be involved in activity that increases the cost of insurance of the association and is hazardous to residents. The letter also stated, "Dogs must be leashed when outdoors" and "The pet owner is responsible for any claim resulting from any action of their pet."
Under the regulations of Montgomery Woods, owners of housing units in the development are responsible for ensuring compliance by their tenants.
A notice of the attack and confinement of the animal, as well as rabies-control reports, were filled out by police.
Buster was then put in quarantine, which ended Nov. 18, and was supposed to be moved out of Montgomery Woods into another community as of Nov. 30, said Donna Smalley, a Montgomery Woods resident actively involved in trying to get the association to permanently remove the dog from the neighborhood.
But according to Ms. Smalley and Ms. Cariello, Buster was seen Saturday in Ms. Nackman’s home, barking.
"I saw it from my car," Ms. Cariello said.
Stephanie Carey, the Montgomery Township Health Officer, said as of Monday she had not received a call since "a couple of weeks ago" about the dog being in Montgomery Woods. "We looked a couple of weeks ago, and we couldn’t find the dog, there was no dog at the house, no barking, no activity," Ms. Carey said. "We have assertions from the owner that it has been removed, and we have not seen it. Our animal control officer has gone out there several times."
Ms. Cariello said she and other residents are "up in arms" about the incident and also angry that the homeowners’ association "did not alert members of the community that an attack took place. It was only after a group of community members took it upon themselves to post flyers that the presence of this animal (and the risk it poses) was known," Ms. Cariello said.

