MICHIGAN -- In response to recent pit bill attacks on three people Buchanan officials could be looking to crackdown on dangerous animals.
City Manager-Police Chief Bill Marx said during this week’s Buchanan Commissioners meeting director of animal control for the state, Val Grimes, will be in town on the Sept. 26.
He asked Grimes to attend the next regularly scheduled commissioners meeting to go over the existing state statute governing dangerous animals and answer any questions.
Marx said the information could be used by the commissioners to decide whether a local dangerous animal ordinance should be drafted to fill any gaps in the state laws as that presently exist.
"We might already have something that addresses that under the state statute,’’ Marx said.
On Saturday, Doyle Vergon was walking his dog near Chemical Bank about 5:30 a.m. in the downtown when two pit bulls appeared from out of nowhere, police said.
The dogs pulled Vergon to the ground and began biting him and mauling his dog.
Two local residents, Jimmy Cowles and Jason Stroud, helped beat the dogs off Vergon and his small dog.
Vergon, a former city manager in Buchanan, was treated and released from a hospital for puncture wounds.
His dog sustained more extensive injuries, police said.
Also, Just before 3 p.m., the same pit bulls attacked Ann Desenberg while she was in her garage on River Street, police reported.
Desenberg was bitten on the forearm and legs and her wounds were serious, said police.
Her brother, Lou Desenberg, a local attorney, responding to her calls for help tried fighting off the dogs with a board.
The dogs bit the board and hung on to the 2 x 4 with their teeth and pulled the plank away from Lou Desenberg, police said.
The dogs then attacked Lou Desenberg, leaving him with a puncture wound on the leg and shredded muscle, police said.
The Desenbergs were both taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Police said the owners of the dogs, Heather and Randy Pruett, were located and called to the Desenberg residence to help in apprehending the dogs.
The dogs were turned over to Berrien County Animal Control for a 10-day quarantine.
Police said a check of their records showed both dogs were current on their shots.
Marx said it appears the two dogs escaped from their backyard in Buchanan Township and, eventually, wandered into the city.
(South Bend Tribune - September 13, 2011)
