MAINE -- An aggressive dog mauled a child Wednesday on Water Street, and Watervile Police Chief Joseph Massey is fed up. He plans to propose an ordinance to City Council that would restrict large aggressive breeds.
"I've been in law enforcement for 34 years, and I've had the unfortunate experience, dozens and dozens of times in my career, of seeing young children and adults mauled by aggressive dogs," he said. "I'm at my wit's end with continually seeing young children bitten with that degree of physical damage."
In Waterville, another child has been mauled by a pit bull. Waterville's Police Chief Joe Massey is once again calling for something to be done by lawmakers about dangerous dogs.
According to Massey a 5-year-old boy was violently mauled by a pit bull in his home last week. "Very severe injuries that required that the child be brought to the hospital and it's recommended that they have reconstructive surgery to repair the injuries to the face of this particular child," Massey said Monday.
Massey says the pit bull that attacked the boy was given to the family. "The mom accepted the dog as a gift 16 hours before that dog bit the child. Without any knowledge of the dog or its history."
The dog involved of this latest attack is under quarantine at the Waterville Humane Society and may be put down.
This summer, Massey was was critical of the dog breeds after two separate attacks on children by the same pit bull.
On Aug. 18, a pit bull bit a 6-year-old boy in a home on Louise Avenue. Two weeks later, the same dog bit a 2-year-old boy at the same location. The toddler was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland for surgery.
The dog was euthanized after a 10-day quarantine.
Massey said at the time that supporters of pit bulls and other large breeds disagreed with his position.
"My critics give me excuses that it's not the dog's fault, it's the owner's fault. But over my three decades of law enforcement, blaming the owner has not reduced the number of bites that are happening," he said.
Massey is planning to ask the Waterville City Council to consider an ordinance that at the very least would have dangerous dogs like pit bulls muzzled in public or possibly banning certain breeds from Waterville. That idea makes Massey a target for criticism. He's received letters from all over the country blasting him for the proposal. One email even equated breed specific legislation to racism. "I'll wear that hat if it means protecting folks against these type of vicious, vicious bites," Massey says.
One of Massey's chief critics on this issue is dog trainer Scott Towers. He says the problem is the owner not the dog and it's unfair to single out the breed. "Dogs are 5% genetics and 95% environment," Towers said at the Waterville Humane Society. "So it always comes down to where they live."
Towers also points out that this isn't the first time individual breeds have been singled out. "In the 70's it was a doberman. Then in the 80's it was the Shepherds. Well how many police canines are shepherds? In the 90's it was the Rottweiler. In 2000 it's the Pit Bull. The reason is because it's popular," Towers said. Towers says the Dalmation is the number one man biter among dogs, not pit bulls.
[Don't you love it when they trot out the whole "first it was Dobermans, then it was German Shepherds...". When's the last time someone was killed by a Dalmation?]
Massey says he plans to research similar ordinances in other cities and towns before deciding on his next course of action. "I don't want to propose some ban that's not well researched and maybe has not gone to court yet to see whether or not it will hold scrutiny."
(Morning Sentinel - Dec 3, 2011)
