EXCLUSIVE: Toy poodle named Papaya mauled to death by larger dog in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — In a heartbreaking story, a small toy poodle named Papaya was mauled to death by another dog in San Francisco.

A dog walker who had the nearly 4-year-old dog told the owner that it happened at a public dog park near the San Francisco Golf Club.

“She was everybody’s friend,” Papaya’s owner Olga Terets said. “She loved everybody. She woke up to her stupid little Barbie theme song it was like Papaya’s world and to have her life end in such a tragic way is like everyone knows their dog is gonna die everyone knows that’s gonna be a moment for them but it’s like not this way and not for this kind of dog!”

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The dog walker Terets hired picked up Papaya at 11:13 a.m. Tuesday. Two hours later she had received word that Papaya was in critical condition at the vet’s office where they unsuccessfully tried to save her life.

Terets says the dog walker told her they were at Alemany Boulevard Dog Park in San Francisco when another dog attacked Papaya. The dog walker didn’t get pictures, video, or a great description but said the dog that attacked was big and shepherd-looking, but maybe a mix. The walker also said the owner and dog immediately left.

Terets, who was wearing her Papaya sweatshirt, fought back tears as ABC7 News spoke with her. She’s hoping that someone out there saw something that can help them find the dog in question.

“I see her in the hospital and it’s just like, like it’s so hard to believe,” Terets said. “I walked outside of my house and all her things are there and she’s not and I literally have dog food coming for her on Friday. She was such a smart funky little dog and it’s such a horrible end but it’s even worse if we don’t know what happened.”

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“Here she was not moving, I kept asking her to wake up that’s it and I held her in my hands and she was motionless like a baby,” Olga Terets’ mother Kateryna Terets said.

Terets and her mother are determined to get to the bottom of what happened. They filed a police statement and were waiting on an officer to file a report when we spoke with them. They say what happened wasn’t right and are hopeful the person involved here will have a change of heart.

“If this was just an accident and they stopped it still would have been tragic but at least I would have had a little bit more empathy and compassion and like things happen they are dogs, but to have that happen and they run away and for me not to even know what happened,” Terets said.

Terets says she’s concerned that if this dog in question did this once, they could do it again to another small dog or child. If you have any information that could help Terets you can reach out to her on her Instagram page: “apupnamedpapaya” also known as “Papaya the toy poodle.”