FLORIDA -- No criminal charges will be filed in a dog mauling that resulted in the loss of a Bay County woman’s arm, according to officials.
The Bay County Sheriff’s Office concluded its investigation Tuesday into the July 19 pit bull attack at Parkway Animal Hospital of employee Laura Miller, 43, of Panama City.
Miller was working the evening of July 19 when she was attacked by the dog, according to BCSO reports. Deputies reported co-workers of Miller were alerted to an attack in the boarding area of the facility on Tyndall Parkway.
When authorities arrived, they found Miller being attacked by the bulldog. A BCSO report said “the dog had Laura’s armpit area in its mouth and was violently shaking her.” Co-workers began hitting and kicking the dog until he released Miller and could be locked back in his cage.
When EMS arrived to treat Miller’s wounds — including several bites to her arms, neck and upper torso area — they advised deputies her injuries were life-threatening and took her to Bay Medical Center. Due to the mauling, surgery was undertaken to amputate Miller’s arm at the shoulder, according to BCSO reports.
Christa Hild, spokeswoman for Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System, said Tuesday that Miller was in stable condition and in a patient room. An update on her condition was not available Wednesday.
The dog is currently quarantined in the Bay County Animal Shelter to be observed over a 10-day period for signs of rabies, according to Bay County Animal Control Director Bill Olasin. Then, with the reports from BCSO, Animal Control will determine whether to deem the animal dangerous.
If it is, keeping the dog would be at the owner’s discretion.
“A dog that is deemed to be dangerous has to be contained in a secure enclosure,” Olasin said. “Any time that animal comes outside, it must to be muzzled and on a secure chain or leash.”
Besides being required to perpetually cage or leash and muzzle, annual check-ins from Animal Control are required to harbor a dangerous animal.
If the animal is kept, it also cannot be moved to another state or county without notifying Animal Control. Wherever the animal is being transported, Animal Control would notify the counterpart agency of the area.
“It’s pretty much lockdown,” Olasin said of the dog. “That is for the rest of its life regardless of who owns it, and if that dog bites for a second time after it has been deemed dangerous, it would be euthanized.”
Miller could not be contacted for an interview.
Staff members of Parkway Animal Hospital and the dog’s owner, Michael Stults, declined interviews.
(The News Herald - July 25, 2012)
[This article is infuriating because it clearly shows that Bay County Animal Control Director Bill Olasin doesn't understand the laws of Florida, laws that he is tasked with understanding and enforcing. It says right in the Florida statute that if a dog, that has not previously been declared dangerous, attacks and causes severe injury or death to a human that the dog shall be seized and destroyed. THERE IS NO OPTION FOR GIVING THE DOG BACK!!! How is it that I know this and he doesn't???]
767.13 Attack or bite by dangerous dog; penalties; confiscation; destruction.
(2) If a dog that has not been declared dangerous attacks and causes severe injury to or death of any human, the dog shall be immediately confiscated by an animal control authority, placed in quarantine, if necessary, for the proper length of time or held for 10 business days after the owner is given written notification under s. 767.12, and thereafter destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner.
This 10-day time period shall allow the owner to request a hearing under s. 767.12. The owner shall be responsible for payment of all boarding costs and other fees as may be required to humanely and safely keep the animal during any appeal procedure.
In addition, if the owner of the dog had prior knowledge of the dog’s dangerous propensities, yet demonstrated a reckless disregard for such propensities under the circumstances, the owner of the dog is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
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