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| Animal Control officer Darleen F. Belsito says she has no intentions of doing anything about the German Shepherd that almost killed Petey |
Andrew R. Pelletier, acting director of development and inspectional services, said an attack on a small dog by a neighbor’s larger dog was not “ignored” by the town.
Mr. Pelletier said last week he was happy with the town’s response to the Nov. 19 incident.
However, Mr. Pelletier said, the town will try to do a better job of updating complainants as the town’s investigations unfold. In this case, the complainants expressed displeasure about a lack of information.
Also, “weaknesses” have been identified in the town’s protocols for dealing with aggressive dogs, Mr. Pelletier said.
On Nov. 19, a German shepherd belonging to School Committee member Todd Hammond of Sunrise Avenue ventured onto a neighbor’s property and bit and injured the neighbor’s small dog, which was rushed to emergency surgery to treat injuries that resulted in a nearly $3,000 veterinarian bill, Mr. Pelletier said.
The owners of the attacked dog, Joyce Konrad and Phyllis M. Kossak, a state trooper in the Sturbridge barracks, said Dog Officer Darlene Belsito was unresponsive.
None of the dogs’ owners could be reached for comment yesterday.
According to a file of the incident in the Board of Health’s office, Ms. Konrad wrote in a Dec. 5 email to the town, “I sent an e-mail to the Board of Selectman last week regarding a dog-mauling episode sustained by my 24-pound dog by a 100-pound German Shepherd owned by Todd M. Hammond. The incident was ignored by the on-call dog officer who never made a report of the incident on Saturday, Nov. 19. A week later, the animal control officer of Oxford/Dudley came to (Mr.) Hammond’s home to quarantine the animal. I never got an acknowledgement from the Board of Selectman of Auburn, ever.”
But Mr. Pelletier said Ms. Belsito responded on Nov. 19.
Ms. Belsito said in an interview she went to both the complainants and Mr. Hammond’s house that day. The dog officer said she assumed Ms. Konrad and Ms. Kossak had taken their dog to the vet.
Later that week, Sheila Donohue, the town’s animal inspector, ordered Mr. Hammond’s dog quarantined, according to Mr. Pelletier. The quarantine has since been released.
On Dec. 1 Ms. Belsito issued Mr. Hammond a $25 citation for failing to restrain his dog.
Mr. Pelletier said the lack of response to the complainant’s initial email was “a technical error.” The email was sent to the mailbox of the exiting town manager, which wasn’t monitored. Mr. Pelletier said that is being corrected on the town’s web page.
Ms. Belsito said she left a message with Ms. Kossak and Ms. Konrad to notify them that she had issued the ticket, and she offered to make a copy available to them.
“People become very emotional, and I can fully understand it,” the dog officer said. “My animals mean the world to me.”
She added, “Unfortunately I have no control over what that dog did for damage to the other dog. Personally, could I feel different? Absolutely. But on a professional level, the best we can do is give a ticket for an unrestrained dog, unless it occurred so many times, and then we can move to, ‘we have an aggressive dog problem.’ That’s a whole other situation.”
[So she's saying she intends to do NOTHING unless the dog continually goes and attacks and kills other pets and people. What if Petey's owners didn't have $2,800 in their pocket or available on a credit card to pay his bill? I know a lot of people who live paycheck to paycheck and would be hard pressed to come up with $100, let alone nearly $3,000. If this little dog had died or had to be put to sleep b/c their owners didn't have access to that much money to save him, would this animal control officer decide that the dog's death was enough to do something about this Shepherd????]
Mr. Pelletier said the amount of the fine does not reflect the severity of the incident.
“We don’t have a penalty for that. Damage done by an animal, much like if I went on your yard and peeled out with my truck, it’s a civil matter,” he said.
Ms. Belsito said a restraint isn’t necessarily a leash, as a dog can be restrained by other means.
With this being a first-time incident for Mr. Hammond’s dog, Ms. Belsito said she would not classify the German shepherd as a nuisance.
Mr. Pelletier said he was empathetic to Ms. Konrad and Ms. Kossak.
“That dog was roughed up,” he said.
Mr. Pelletier said he does not like the town’s regulation.
“Even though state regulations address aggressive dogs, our local regulations do not,” he said.
Officials intend to align the town’s regulations with state laws to identify aggressive dogs, and change its citation format, he said. The town also will provide progress reports to the owners of animals that are victims, he said.
[They can clearly cite the owner of the German Shepherd on a state charge to have the dog declared potentially dangerous or dangerous. Sounds like they just don't want to bother. -- § 157. Vicious dogs; nuisance; barking or other disturbance; annoyance to sick person; attacks on other dogs - The act of a dog in attacking or biting another dog or other animal may be made the subject of a complaint under the provisions of this section.]
(News Telegram - Jan 4, 2012)
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