CANADA --- Trigger the pit bull's fate has been decided.
After a 90-minute trial in provincial court Wednesday, Justice Michael Frederiksen decided the six-year-old pit bull is a “serious threat” to the public and ordered the dog euthanized.
Trigger attacked and killed Max, a black shih tzu - toy poodle, outside an Orillia apartment building on April 27.
Max's owner, Wendy Totten, was the only Crown witness in the case.
Around 6:30 p.m. on April 27, Totten took Max outside so he could “do his business.”
Usually, she would take Max for a full walk, “but that night I was a bit tired, so I took him out the back.”
Danielle Dostie, who was dogsitting Trigger at the time, also took him out behind the apartment building to “do his business.” He was leashed and muzzled at the time.
Both Dostie and Trigger were startled when they turned a corner outside the apartment building and Max “jumped at Trigger,” Dostie wrote in a police statement.
That's when Trigger's leash and muzzle broke.
“I thought, 'Oh my God,' and I started pulling Max,” Totten said.
Totten, who had owned six-year-old Max since it was a puppy, tried to pull him close to her, “but obviously not close enough.”
Trigger grabbed Max by the ear and began pulling him away from Totten.
“I thought if I pulled hard enough, if he lost his ear that would be OK,” she said.
Totten kicked Trigger twice while trying to pull Max from the much larger and stronger dog's mouth.
Max weighed 14 pounds while Trigger weighs between 100 and 110 pounds.
During this time Dostie “did nothing” to help, Totten said.
Holding onto Max, who was still in Trigger's mouth, Totten was pulled to a bush outside the apartment building.
“He just dragged us into that bush,” she said. “I heard a crunch.”
Totten didn't let go of Max.
“I held my dog. I never got away from the dog,” she said. “(The pit bull) kept biting in the same spot.”
Totten described the attack in detail, and said, “I knew (Max) was gone.”
When OPP Const. Christopher Tozer and Const. Jim Edwards arrived, Trigger was lying by a fence near the scene.
“It had in its mouth the small black dog,” Tozer told court.
The officer could tell Max was dead.
Tozer said he fashioned a noose out of Trigger's leash that was handed to him by Totten's son and lassoed the pit bull and tied the dog to a fence.
“He didn't stand up,” Tozer said. “(Trigger was) still chewing on the smaller black dog.”
A brief “tug-of-war” occurred as Tozer pulled Max from Trigger's mouth.
Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) agent Clancy Martin arrived on scene and took Trigger to the OSPCA facility, where the dog has remained since the attack.
Upon giving his verdict, Frederiksen said there was a “high possibility” Trigger would be aggressive again.
“The public should never have to fear another animal in a communal living space,” he said. “(It's) necessary for the protection of the public that the dog known as Trigger be destroyed.”
Frederiksen told the court he regretted what had occurred.
“I feel badly for the individual who lost her dog. It was obviously a personal and traumatic situation,” he said. “Despite her efforts, she could not save the dog.”
Frederiksen fined Dostie $500 as she was responsible Trigger's actions.
She must also compensate the OSPCA $2,100 for the non-profit facility's care and housing of Trigger for 140 days.
(Toronto Sun - September 14, 2011)
