SAN ANTONIO — When Buddy the Dog was reunited with his owner Homer Mojica on Saturday morning after more than two months apart, it was hard to tell any time had passed at all.
“He remembered me,” Mojica said about the moment he first saw the 6-year-old golden retriever mix in his veterinarian's office around 8 a.m.
“He was just wagging his tail. He seemed so happy.”
And 83-year-old Mojica felt “the same way.”
Buddy had been confined to a kennel at the Animal Care Services Brooks City-Base facility since November, shortly after he was accused of attacking a 9-year-old girl at the Northwest Side apartment complex where they all lived.
In December, Judge Daniel Guerrero ordered that the animal be euthanized, a sentence that set off a fierce response from animal rights activists, who argued the punishment was excessive and revealed flaws in the state's serious bodily injury law for dogs. They organized a rally in Alamo Plaza, gathered signatures and raised money, all in support of Buddy's cause.
Those efforts, and the media attention it brought, eventually resulted in the city's decision to release Buddy to his veterinarian last week, while negotiations for his return to Mojica could be worked out.
The agreement includes restrictions; the dog must be kept in a secure enclosure when he is not hooked to a leash and he must be muzzled and on a 6-foot or shorter leash when outdoors and in public.
Management at the apartment complex where Mojica lived also said the dog cannot return. For now, Mojica, his wife and Buddy are living at Mojica's sister's house until they can find a permanent home.
Mojica called the city's restrictions “excessive,” and “kind of cruel.” He and Buddy's supporters have maintained that the little girl startled the dog and that he never bit her.
But her parents say the attack was unprovoked and that her injuries required 100 stitches and surgery to repair her tear duct.
Reached Saturday, the girl's parents said they only learned Friday that Buddy was definitely going back home to his owner. They said they had no say in the deal.
It was a frustrating ending for the parents, who feel their daughter has unjustly become a target for animal rights activists.
“As it's gone on, I think we just felt anger because of all the resentment that's out there toward our daughter,” the girl's father said.
He said it was always the city that decided to pursue euthanasia of the dog, and not the family.
“We didn't have anything to do with that,” he said. But once the case started getting an intense amount of negative attention, “it just seemed like they (city officials) wanted to back down and sweep it under the rug.” Instead, he said, the city should have allowed Mojica to go through the regular appeals process to reverse Buddy's sentence. Buddy supporter Deanna Lee, founder of Advocates for San Antonio Pets, said she doesn't blame the little girl for what happened. She figures she probably got excited around the dog and was acting like a child would, which may have caused Buddy to jump on her.
“We care about the child as much as we care about Buddy,” Lee said. “But Buddy was the one who was going to die for it.”
By Saturday afternoon, it was clear, however, that Buddy's fortunes had dramatically changed. A few hours after his release, he was playing fetch with Mojica's son. The dog had lost a little weight while confined, but other than that, he was still Buddy — back home, at last.
“He's back to being his old same dog,” Mojica said.
vdavila@express-news.net
Twitter: @viannadavila
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