Are we pussycats when it comes to bad dogs?
| Saturday, Nov 07 2009 09:00 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Nov 10 2009 10:34 AM
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WHAT DOES "DANGEROUS" MEAN?
State law -- which is closely mirrored by city and county ordinance -- defines a "potentially dangerous dog" as:
(a) Any dog which, when unprovoked, on two separate occasions within the prior 36-month period, engages in any behavior that requires a defensive action by any person to prevent bodily injury when the person and the dog are off the property of the owner or keeper of the dog.
(b) Any dog which, when unprovoked, bites a person causing a less severe injury ...
(c) Any dog which, when unprovoked, on two separate occasions within the prior 36-month period, has killed, seriously bitten, inflicted injury, or otherwise caused injury attacking a domestic animal off the property of the owner or keeper of the dog.
Images:
Tucker, the dog mauled to death last month by a neighborhood pit bull. Photo provided by JoAnn Mayfield.
This is one of the pit bulls that attacked Steven Herrera last week at his brother Salvador Romero's house in east Bakersfield. Neighbor Andy Castaneda came to his rescue. Herrera was taken to Kern Medical Center. Photo courtesy of Damon Hill via cellphone.
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Let's say a neighborhood pit bull gets loose from its yard, runs down the street, breaks through your backyard gate and attacks and kills your beloved pet.
Is the pit bull "dangerous?"
Not necessarily in the eyes of the law.
For JoAnn Mayfield, the owner of Tucker, a miniature dachshund mauled to death last month by a marauding pit bull, something is wrong with this picture.
Mayfield was getting dressed Oct. 9 when she heard a commotion in her back yard in northeast Bakersfield.
When she ran to the door, she found a pit bull shaking Tucker "like a rag doll."
Mayfield and her 82-year-old mother were powerless to rescue the small dog. Someone on the street honked their horn in alarm while someone else called 911.
Then neighbor Jennie Johnson arrived. She grabbed a shovel and walked into Mayfield's back yard where she found the pit now casually chewing on the smaller dog.
"I used the shovel a couple of times to dissuade him," she said of the pit bull.
Her efforts allowed the mortally injured dachshund to run into the house.
A sheriff's deputy responded. Later an animal control officer arrived. Johnson got a leash on the pit, she said, and handed custody over to the deputy.
Despite emergency veterinary care, Tucker would not survive the attack.
The offending pit bull and two others reportedly running loose that day were impounded by Kern County Animal Control.
For a few hours.
"They got their dog back the same day," an outraged Mayfield said of the owners. "The very same day."
She and others in the Alta Vista area neighborhood can hardly believe that a pit bull running loose could lift her gate off its hinges, enter her back yard, kill her tiny dachshund, and then be reunited with its owner within a matter of hours.
"What if it had been a kid?" Mayfield said.
County Animal Control Director Guy Shaw verified that the three pits were returned to their owner the same day -- but only after licensing and vaccinations were completed and a fence check was done at the owner's property on Lomita Verde Drive.
The owner also paid the bill for the veterinarian care.
Reached at the home of the pit bulls, Lauren Olivas said her live-in boyfriend owns the dogs. She acknowledged the pits had been escaping from the back yard for some time.
"She's actually a really good dog," Olivas said of the female involved in the killing. "When I heard there was a dog attack, I knew it was her."
New boards on part of the fence facing the street are in evidence at the home, but that doesn't satisfy another neighbor, Kim Horton.
On two occasions, the male pit bull showed up at the Horton residence and nearly chewed through a set of French doors in an effort to get at their dogs.
"There were wood chips all over the door mat and chunks of wood missing from the panels," Horton said.
"That dog chewed through wood," she added. "In my opinion, a wood fence is not enough to keep the neighborhood safe. With a dog like that, you need a concrete wall."
But Shaw says his powers are limited.
According to city and county ordinances, Animal Control currently has little recourse but to return aggressive dogs to their owners.
"Any animal (previously) determined to be dangerous by the director that bites or otherwise injures a person or other animal or damages property may be impounded for euthanasia," according to the county ordinance.
In other words, the dog must have been declared "dangerous" or "vicious" following an earlier documented incident. A second incident if serious enough could then justify lethal injection, although the owner would have the right of appeal.
Although there are some differences between the Bakersfield city ordinance and Kern County ordinance, both typically require an earlier attack -- or even two -- before stronger action can be taken by officials.
In the case of the attack on Tucker, Shaw said because an animal control officer was not there to witness the attack or see the pit bull in Mayfield's back yard, he cannot hold the dog and its owner responsible for the death of Tucker.
"It's pretty ridiculous that the animal control officer has to be there," Horton said.
A dead dog, a loose pit bull, a gate pulled from its hinges, a distraught neighborhood -- that's more than enough evidence, she said.
City and countywide, the evidence is mounting. More than 2,400 dog bites have been documented by animal control services in Bakersfield and Kern County since 2007. The worst offenders by far are pit bulls.
Then last week in east Bakersfield, a man entering the unlocked front gate of his brother's home was seriously mauled by three pits. He might have been killed were it not for a courageous neighbor who used a wooden cane against the attacking animals.
While the animals were quarantined, city animal control officials said the unaltered male and two pregnant females might indeed be returned to the owner if he was willing to pay boarding and licensing fees.
Now some are saying it's time to take a second look at city and county ordinances. Kern County is known for being "tough on crime" when it comes to human offenders. But is Kern a pussycat when it comes to out of control dogs?
County Supervisor Don Maben said he takes it very seriously when an aggressive dog not only is off its owner's property, but enters the enclosed back yard of a neighbor.
"Not only is it a safety issue, it's a violation of the sanctity of someone's home," Maben said. "Particularly your back yard."
But Maben pointed out that the county has spent four years in an effort to amend animal control ordinances regarding the numbers of altered and unaltered pets households may have.
Changes to laws don't happen overnight, he said. He also suggested that current law might well be sufficient, but that the implementation and interpretation of those laws might be more easily adjusted.
"Should a dog be done in?" he asked, referring to the controversial practice of euthanizing aggressive animals.
"Give us a pulse. What does the public think?" Maben said. "I'd like to know."
