CALIFORNIA -- It’s a dog owner’s worst nightmare: You’re walking your dog on a leash when suddenly a vicious dog runs toward you, growling and teeth bared, and attacks your pet.
It happened at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 28 in a quiet east Petaluma neighborhood, when a 55-year-old man was walking his family’s 6-year-old pet beagle.
“A pit bull just ran toward them and starting attacking our dog,” said Lisa Parreira, the man’s sister.
“It knocked my brother down, and tore our dog apart.”
He was unable to separate the dogs, so he called out for help. A resident of a nearby house who had been temporarily watching the pit bull for its owner came out and was able to separate the dogs.
The beagle was taken to an animal hospital, but his injuries were so severe that he had to be euthanized.
The pit bull was seized by Sonoma County Animal Care & Control, at the request of Petaluma Animal Services, because officials learned that the pit bull lived just outside the city limits on Lakeville Highway.
But on Friday, the county animal agency released the pit bull back to its owner. That was because the incident did not occur in the county’s jurisdiction and Sonoma County Animal Care & Control did not have legal authority to hold the dog.
Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons later said that should not have been done. Lyons oversees Petaluma Animal Services.
On Saturday, the dog, whose owner lives outside the city limits, was impounded by a Petaluma animal control officer.
“Our agency exercised our jurisdictional authority and determined it was safer for the dog and the public to have the dog impounded,” said Lyons.
The dog will stay at the Petaluma Animal Shelter pending an administrative hearing to determine if the dog should be declared dangerous or potentially dangerous. The hearing will be held within 30 days, Lyons said.
Lyons said he later learned that the dog had attacked another dog in 2008 on Lakeville Highway. “The county had declared the animal potentially dangerous,” he said, but the animal was released to its owners.
Lyons said police haven’t been able to identify the dog’s owner, but did find out that he is in a treatment facility and the dog is being cared for by a friend who lives in the 1500 block of Anna Way, where the attack occurred.
He said the hearing will be held to determine if the dog is dangerous. “We will give the owners of the dog time to present any evidence as to whether the animal should be declared dangerous or potentially dangerous,” Lyons said. “The county determined it was potentially dangerous in 2008, but we need to hear the facts of the case, and determine whether the dog is potentially dangerous to the public or other dogs.
“Once that determination is made, we will decide what happens to the dog,” Lyons said.
[Wonderful. Just let this dog keep attacking and killing animals... when is enough enough???]
After the hearing, there are several options. The dog could be returned to its owners, euthanized, retrained, removed from its owners or adopted out to someone else.
Lyons said dog attacks don’t occur very often. “I’m only aware of two other incidents (in which a dog attacked another dog) this year so far,” he said. He did not recall any recent dog attacks of people.
That doesn’t help the Parreira family overcome the loss of their pet beagle, however.
“He was sweetest dog in the world. He was just out for a walk and this dog ran out and ripped him apart,” said a tearful Parreira. “This was so traumatic to our family,” said Parreira. “It was just horrific.”
(Petaluma 360 - October 5, 2011)
