Texas: Owner of pit bulls that killed neighbor's dog asks Haltom City judge to let them be moved

TEXAS --- Laurie Tillman told a municipal court judge that her neighbor's two pit bull terriers chased her Boxer into her home and, once inside, mauled him so badly that he died 10 days later.

The pit bulls' owner, Fatima Fisher, has petitioned the Haltom City municipal court to allow her to move her dogs to a residence in Franklin County. But that's just moving the problem, not a solution, Tillman said.

"These dogs are dangerous," Tillman said. "If they are moved they will just be a danger to someone in another community."

NIMBY = not in my back yard. Some jurisdictions will 'banish' or allow vicious dogs to be taken out of the city limits (or the county) so they don't have to deal with the court battle it may take to order that the vicious dog be euthanized. So they let the owner give the dog to a fly-by-night 'rescue' or send the dog off to a new home in another city/county/state with NO restrictions and NO orders to tell the new neighbors about this vicious dog now living in their community. 

In a statement during a dangerous dog hearing Jan. 20, Tillman told municipal Judge Lorraine Irby that she came home for lunch Jan. 10 and her boxer, Boots, did not come to the door as was his habit.

Tillman said she saw another dog leaving through a missing board in her fence.

Boots was inside the house caked in blood and mud, lying motionless on a blanket, and blood was found throughout the house, Tillman said.

HOME INVASION BY VICIOUS PIT BULLS
Tillman said the pit bulls, Simba and Nila, had crawled into her yard through a board they knocked loose from the fence, and then came into the house through a pet door.

PRIOR HISTORY ON VICIOUS DOGS
Animal control records show that Fisher received a citation because her dogs had chased a resident inside her home on Sept. 26.

Irby ruled on Jan. 20 that the two pit bull terriers are dangerous dogs. They are currently being held in the Haltom City animal shelter.

Why weren't the pit bulls declared dangerous back in September???

The court ruled that Fisher must meet the standards of the city's dangerous dog ordinance to get them out of the shelter, including obtaining a $100,000 liability insurance policy, registering the dogs at an animal care and adoption center, paying an annual fee and posting signs on her residence warning that dangerous dogs live there.

If Fisher meets those standards, she can get the dogs and move them to another location outside of Tarrant County.

"I can't for the life of me understand why someone would have to comply with the order when no dogs will be at the address," said Fisher's attorney, Donald Feare.

Feare said he plans to ask the court to reconsider the motion.

(Star Telegram - Feb 6, 2012)