“They’re going off their statements and their reports, but not by who the dog lives with,” said Christina Ortiz, the pit bull’s owner.
Christina Ortiz and her family met with officials from the Health Department and Animal Control to help clear D-o-g’s name. They say Animal Control got the wrong dog.
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| Maybe, instead of buying that gold chain necklace, he should've used his money to buy a heavy chain for his dog so that it would not have escaped and attacked a neighbor? |
“The person who was bitten identified the other dog that was out there," Ortiz said. “They won’t change anything until that person calls in, and they haven’t done that.”
But, according to Animal Control, D-o-g is a threat to the public. A neighbor reported the dog bit them near the Ortiz’s yard. So he impounded the pit bull, then reportedly mauled an officer next.
“D-o-g is trying to attack our staff from inside his kennel, said Tracy Wolf, an animal control officer.
So D-o-g has been impounded 12 days under lock and key. The Health Department will decide his fate, whether to put him down, label him as a “dangerous dog” to be kept on a chain behind a fence at all times, or simply release him to his owners.
“This dog isn’t a special case. Anytime we feel an animal is a danger to public safety, this level of decision making is and should be made,” said Nick Cullen, animal shelter supervisor.
But, the family feels D-o-g is being wrongfully targeted because he is a pit bull. He has been a part of their family for four years in a house with a four-month-old baby.
[Oh yes, the pit bull and baby statement! Gotta drag out the nanny dog claims!]
“It’s not fair he has to be taken out of his environment,” Ortiz said. "They made a statement that he had been aggressive at the kennel, but not only has he been abused, but he is out if his own environment.”
They say days after D-o-g was taken to the shelter, they noticed he had a protruding bone and blood running down his right paw.
Animal Control says there has been a bunch of back and forth from both sides, but they get the final say.
“Anytime you have a situation where a dog bite occurs, there’s always the animal owner’s point of view and the bite victim’s point of view,” Cullen said.
Animal Control says it will review the facts of the case and make a decision Friday. D-o-g’s owners plan to appeal the board’s decision if they rule to put him down or mislabel him.
“We will do everything we need to do to get him home,” Ortiz said. “We will continue to fight until we get him home because that’s the only thing we can do.”
(KGET - Dec 22, 2011)
