NEW YORK -- This north Riverdale block has gone to the dogs.
In a rare ruling, a city administrative judge has ordered a recalcitrant Bronx dog owner to turn over her six to eight German shepherds and Siberian huskies after they repeatedly bit and attacked five neighbors over the past two years.
The case against Philomena McNamara's German shepherds started after multiple complaints from her terrified neighbors on Riverdale Ave.
At a city hearing this summer, Catherine O'Brien testified that on June 17, 2006 two of McNamara's dogs ran onto her property and attacked her small Jack Russell dog. In the following years, the emboldened dogs chased her son and other neighbors, O'Brien added.
More recently, O'Brien said that on Aug. 26, 2010, she and other neighbors called the police when the pack broke loose and began "rampaging" through the nearby streets and yards. The police shot one dog with a tranquilizer gun.
A few days after that incident, another neighbor was attacked by the same group of pooches. The unidentified man lost a fingernail and suffered a fracture to his hand which was chomped on by one of the Siberian huskies, medical records submitted at the hearing show.
They weren't the only ones mauled.
Jerome Henkin, another neighbor, said he was bitten in the right thigh by one of the dogs while walking past McNamara's property. The injury required stitches, a tetanus shot and antibiotic treatment.
Henkin added that he had problems getting in touch with the dog's owner, according to a letter he submitted at the trial.
Two other residents said they were also chased down.
Pagan Ezequiel filed a complaint with authorities saying he was attacked by a white German shepherd on Dec. 30, 2009 outside the house. Four months later, William Sheehan said he was bitten by a dog named Stallion while he was walking a dog past the home.
The city Health Department finally acted.
In October 2010, the city forced McNamara to submit all her large dogs for evaluation by a department behaviorist, enroll them in training and leash and muzzle them in public. The city also required her to show proof that the dogs would be secured at her house by a fence, obtain licenses for the each of them and provide proof of immunization.
She partially complied, but only took two of them to one obedience class.
McNamara then told the city that she could not replace her fence because she was out of work and couldn't afford it. She also claimed that she moved all of the large dogs to a friend's home upstate.
Still, neighbors complained of barking coming from the home shortly before the administrative hearing was held in the summer.
As a result, John Spooner, the administrative judge handling the case ruled that the city could remove them for evaluation "to ensure that the dogs do not attack anymore community residents."
McNamara was unavailable for comment.
(NY Daily News - January 9, 2012)
