At 11:17 a.m., Animal Control responded to the incident at the dog park area of Twin Lakes, 2500 Chapel Hill Road. An unleashed pit bull and a smaller dog began playing [when the pit bull attacked], and a bystander intervened to help restrain the pit bull.
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| "Columbia Animal Control officer Jean Easley takes a pit bull terrier into custody Monday at Twin Lakes Recreation Area as the dog’s owner follows the officer to the van." This animal control officer is kidding herself if she thinks this puny little green leash will contain this pit if it suddenly bolts or attacks her. |
The bystander who intervened, Jenny Hecker of Columbia, said she was sitting on a bench with a friend when she saw the pit bull's owner hitting it with the leash, trying to get the dog off of the smaller poodle mix.
The pit bull had seized the other dog by the face, she said.
Hecker said she got hit with the leash as she was trying to help remove the pit bull, but she did not get bitten.
"Everybody was freaking out. I got whipped several times," she said.
Hecker said the pit bull's owner was able to leash the dog while she grabbed its neck and then choked it with the owner's chain. "At one point, the guy did try to grab him by his jowls and was trying to pull him, but honestly, the way they were responding to the dog was just making him bite harder. ... That's why I put my arm under his neck," she said.
The smaller dog's owner — an older woman who had been walking the dog in the park before the incident — left immediately to take her pet to veterinary care, she said.
No citations have been issued, said Molly Aust, Animal Control supervisor, but both dogs are required to be impounded for 10 days. The poodle was not registered, and the pit bull's rabies vaccinations were not up to date, each of which is a violation of city ordinance and requires a 10-day impoundment.
The poodle can serve the remainder of its confinement at its personal vet as it recovers from non-life-threatening injuries, and the pit bull is in the custody of Animal Control, Aust said.
Both dog owners received minor bites from each dog that drew blood, she said.
"That dog used to run loose," Aust said of the pit bull upon examining it. "We searched and found out it used to live on Worley Street, and we would chase it occasionally."
The dog owners' names are sealed because Animal Control's investigation resulted in a bite report — a closed record.
City ordinance requires dog and cat owners to register their pets each year. Animals spayed or neutered cost an annual $5 registration. Animals that are not fixed cost $15 per year, Aust said. Dogs and cats brought into city limits must have up-to-date rabies vaccinations.
(Columbia Daily Tribune - June 5, 2012)
