Judge orders pit bull euthanization carried out

Pumpkin, the pit bull that attacked an Ahwatukee Foothills woman and her dog in April, was euthanized last week, following a May 2 court order by Phoenix Municipal Judge Gloria Ybarra.

"Our efforts to save her failed," said Deloris Delluomo, the mother of the dog's owner, Jamie Delluomo, who was too shook up to speak with the press.

Court records show that Pumpkin, along with Lucy, a Boston terrier, and Boomer, a Basset Beagle mix, were being walked by 43-year-old Jamie Delluomo, when the dogs broke the leash they were on. With Pumpkin in the lead, the three allegedly charged Christene Meyers, 59, and her two Yorkshire terriers, who were taking their daily walk near Kyrene de la Esperanza Elementary School April 17.

Pumpkin ripped the stomach and intestines out of one of the Yorkies, Nora, and then locked onto Meyers' arm, resulting in serious injuries.

Meyers was transported by ambulance and had one emergency surgery with others scheduled to treat the wound and possible tendon damage.

But, right to the end, Deloris Delluomo argued that Pumpkin was gentle and well behaved.

"This was an accident, and accidents happen in this imperfect world," she said last week. "Pumpkin was not a vicious dog to humans. Pumpkin didn't go after this woman, Pumpkin went after the little dog."

Delluomo said her family looked into hiring a new attorney for an appeal but, because Pumpkin was getting stir crazy in the small cage at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, they didn't want to keep the dog penned up.

"We didn't go through the appeal process because we couldn't stand to keep Pumpkin in confinement any longer - it was inhumane," she said. "We couldn't stand to see her going cage crazy any longer."

Delluomo is bitter at the legal process, despite having an attorney and a two-day  hearing in Phoenix Municipal Court. She complained that Ybarra rushed the second day of testimony because she was going on vacation for two weeks to attend her daughter's college graduation.

"We never had an opportunity to plead for a different disposition," Delluomo said.

The recommendation by Animal Care and Control was for Pumpkin to be destroyed and Lucy and Boomer to be muzzled when in public. But Ybarra found that Lucy and Boomer didn't attack anyone and on May 2 released them back to Jamie Delluomo, the same day she found Pumpkin to be vicious and ordered the dog destroyed.

Stories about Pumpkin being destroyed have riled some pit bull supporters, including one who wrote on a blog that Meyers' Yorkies should be killed if Pumpkin was euthanized.

"It's not about pit bulls, it's about a vicious, unprovoked attack," Meyers said, calling the whole situation "heartbreaking."