Family of dog mauled to death at Vancouver beach offers reward to help identify owner (2024)

A Langley family whose three-year-old Maltipoo was mauled to death at Second Beach in Vancouver in early August is offering a reward for information to help identify the owner of the attacking dog who fled from the scene and has been sought by authorities since.

A GoFundMe page titled #JUSTICE FOR SKY — Funds for Reward & Legal Feeswas set up last week and has since gathered over $4,000 in donations, with an overall goal of $10,000, as the family continues its “manhunt to look for the owner and are using funds from this as a reward.”

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Vancouver’s animal services department renewed its plea to find the owner two weeks ago. Despite several tips and videos from social media, the owner and her dog — which bolted toward the Maltipoo named Sky and grabbed her in its jaws — haven’t been found.

Vancouver police have said that animal services will contact them if they need assistance in the investigation.

Videos circulating around social media show the owner of the attacking dog fleeing the scene, despite being told to stop, and disappearing into the woods. Animal services have confirmed to Postmedia News that the female seen in social-media footage from the incident is the suspect they’re seeking.

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The incident occurred as Sky’s owners, Andrea Jagdeo and A.J. Tay, were out for a walk with their three children and two dogs at Second Beach near Stanley Park at around 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 5.

“Sky was literally just standing there, there was no interaction or anything, and this dog came out of nowhere between my daughter and I,” Jagdeo told Postmedia. “It happened so fast and it grabbed Sky with so much force that her collar came off of her.”

The other dog, which was described by some eyewitnesses as a pit bull and by others as a bullmastiff, had clamped its jaws on Sky’s stomach and wasn’t letting go.

The family and several bystanders tried to intervene during the attack, with Tay trying to pry the attacking dog’s jaws open to release Sky.

A stranger flagged down a passing vehicle, and the driver rushed them to a veterinarian clinic on Burrard and Broadway, where Sky was declared dead.

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A Facebook page named Justice for Sky has been created by the family, in the hopes that their pet’s death doesn’t go unpunished.

“We will not let up ’til justice is served and regulations and laws and legal requirements are changed in this city and country!” it reads.

With files from Cheryl Chan

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