POMONA PARK, Fla. — A series of dog attacks in South Putnam county have neighbors taking measures to protect themselves.
The neighbors in Pomona Park want to see something done before an attack turns deadly.
"I heard the dogs coming," said Ed Stoodt, who survived a dog attack by fighting them off with a hoe. "By the time I looked up, they were coming into my yard."
Moments later, Stoodt found himself in a fight for his life, against four of his neighbor's dogs.
He says they broke through his neighbor's fence, and ended up fighting them in his chicken coop.
"They came in the back side, but they wouldn't bite me then, they were killing the chickens," said Stoodt.
Stoodt says his neighbor's dogs killed six of his chickens.
He spent a day in the hospital, and three weeks out of work recovering from his injuries.
"I don't care about the money," said Stoodt. "I just want something done with the dogs. Animal control and the sheriff's department don't seem like they are doing anything."
Both of those agencies responded to the attack.
Stoodt says the dogs were put in a ten day quarantine, but nothing changed after that.
His neighbor, Brandy Cowan's father-in-law was also attacked by the dogs.
"It's just insane that we have to sit here and look over our back every single time we come outside to make sure the dogs aren't here," said Cowan.
She says she called animal control again after the recent mail carrier dog attack also in Putnam County.
Postal Worker Pam Rock was mauled by a pack of dogs last Sunday in Interlachen Estates and died due to her injuries earlier this week.
Cowan wanted to see if anything could be done to prevent a similar thing happening to her family.
"The response was to shoot the dogs," said Cowan. "So, am I supposed to have a four-year-old and five-year-old carry a gun to shoot a dog?"
The owner of the dogs has a locked fence at the front of the property, so I wasn't able to get in touch with him.
Stoodt has started carrying a gun on his own property, in addition to building a fence to try to keep the dogs away.
He's also contacted a lawyer, to get something done before something worse happens.
"We're scared," said Stoodt. "I'm scared for his kids. They're little. If they got them, he'd have killed them."