3 dogs are stabbed, 1 fatally, defending historic cemetery

It happened as it had many times before at the Woodlawn Celestial Gardens in Compton.

- BY RUBEN VIVES

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times

BRONZE and copper plaques on headstones have led to thefts, cemetery owner said. Above, an 1875 grave.

An intruder entered the graveyard in an attempt to steal headstones for their bronze and copper plaques, the owner said. But guarding the cemetery were three Cane Corso dogs — RoRo, Ghost and Zeus.

The intruder fled, but not before stabbing the three dogs, killing RoRo, said Celestina Bishop, owner of the cemetery and the dogs.

Bishop believes the break-in occurred in the early hours of April 10. She and her husband did not learn of the stabbings until that night, when her husband showed up to feed the dogs.

After seeing the injuries to the dogs, they took them to an animal hospital, she said.