After kitten killed, residents, cities seek solutions to aggressive dogs
FLORIDA -- Glancing out the window from her kitchen sink, Bobra Cobb was shocked to see a tan pit bull standing in her back yard, eyeing her 7-month-old kitten, Sunshine.
Seconds later, the pit bull lunged onto the patio and seized the cat in its jaws.
Bobra and her husband, Roy, rushed outside and tried to save Sunshine. Roy suffered a broken pinky and puncture wounds on his hands trying to pry the dog’s mouth open, and Bobra repeatedly struck the dog’s head with a decorative concrete patio stone.
“When the cat stopped moving, he let it go. We hoped it was alive — but he died within seconds,” Bobra Cobb recalled, standing on her patio at the attack site.
Five weeks after Sunshine’s New Year’s Day death, residents in the Flamingo Lane neighborhood remain “highly concerned and incensed,” Melbourne Beach Town Manager Bill Hoskovec said.
They’re not alone: In recent months, similar unleashed-dog violence and aggressive behavior has attracted attention across the Space Coast.
• In another Melbourne Beach attack, an unleashed Chinese shar pei-Labrador mix charged off a front porch last month and attacked a schnauzer on Sixth Avenue. The smaller dog’s internal organs were left exposed from an abdominal wound, a police report shows, though the dog survived.
A Palm Bay police officer required surgery after a roaming pit bull-Mastiff mix bit his hand in early November in a Eatonia Street Northwest front yard.
• And two weeks ago, a Brevard County animal enforcement officer captured two loose Palm Bay dogs that had trapped a woman inside her car in her Americana Boulevard driveway.
Last week, the Melbourne Beach Town Commission discussed dog attacks during a two-hour special meeting. Town Attorney Paul Gougelman will now research methods to crack down on owners whose dogs bite, chase or menace adults, children and pets.
Gougelman said he understands residents’ fears and frustrations. However, he said Florida law and county ordinances govern management of troublemaking animals, not the town.
“I can’t change the state law. If I could, I’d change it tomorrow morning,” Gougelman said.
The Florida Legislature has prohibited breed-specific local ordinances since 1990. Also, if a dog attacks someone’s pet, state law requires a second documented attack on a domestic animal before that dog can be formally declared “dangerous.”
Melbourne Beach resident John Hall wasn’t satisfied with this explanation of Florida’s “one free bite” rule.
“If I had gone to the neighbor’s house and shot that cat, you would have come over and perp-walked me,” Hall said, pointing at a town police officer .
Town resident Jan Meeks agreed.
“Bottom line is, we don’t feel safe. Our animals don’t feel safe. It’s time to do something,” Meeks said at the public comment podium.
Gougelman recommended that residents lobby the Florida House and Senate and the Brevard County Commission for tougher dog legislation.
Among the ideas now under consideration by Melbourne Beach leaders:
• Document neighborhood complaints of threatening dog behavior. If the dog owner fails to resolve the issue, he or she must buy $300,000 in liability insurance.
Commissioner Jay Gurecki proposed the idea.
• Create a dog registration system that imposes increasing fees on owners of poorly behaved animals.
• Craft a town ordinance that levels civil fines on owners of dogs that attack others.
• Make dog owners muzzle their animals outdoors and increase fines for owners of unleashed dogs.
The Cobbs have publicly called for changes to Florida law, contending that pit bulls are hazardous animals.
“You know what it’s going to take? It’s not going to be a cat. It’s going to be a child that gets bitten in the face, or a child that gets their scalp torn off,” Bobra Cobb said.
Miami-Dade is Florida’s sole county that outlaws pit bulls because its 1989 ban was grandfathered by the Legislature. Dahlia Canes is president of the Miami Coalition Against Breed Specific Legislation.
Contacted for comment by FLORIDA TODAY, Canes offered to drive to Melbourne Beach and give a presentation to commissioners.
“Look at the end of the leash. The problem is the two-legged, not the four-legged,” Canes said.
“The problem with breed-specific legislation is there are 75 targeted breeds of dogs in our nation. It’s not only about pit bulls,” she said. “It is costly to enforce, and it does not protect the general public. It gives them a false sense of security.”
Peachy, the roaming pit bull that killed Sunshine, is owned by Richard Green, who lives a few doors down from the Cobbs. Green was cited for animal attack causing injury ($220 fine), animal causing property damage ($100 fine), and animal at large ($55 fine), said Kathy Beatson, interim county animal services director.
Green received a dangerous dog warning letter. If a similar attack occurs, the county may seize Peachy, said Bob Brown, animal enforcement captain.
Palm Bay police officer Phil Erwin suffered a cut on his left hand in November when he was bitten by a brindle-and-white pit bull-Mastiff mix named Damion, Brown said.
Erwin was dispatched to the 1700 block of Eatonia Street NW because Damion was loose. Damion bit Erwin in a front yard. Erwin fired once at the dog, but he missed.
Erwin’s wounds required surgery, said Yvonne Martinez, police spokeswoman. He declined comment for this story.
Damion’s owner, Donna Gordon, was cited for animal attack causing injury ($220 fine) and owner responsibility ($55 fine). She surrendered Damion , and he was euthanized, Brown said.
In the Jan. 25 Melbourne Beach schnauzer attack, Bella, the aggressor dog, was placed on 10-day home quarantine. Bella’s owner, Karen Frauenhofer, was fined $55 for failure to properly secure an animal, Beatson said.
The schnauzer survived the attack. Frauenhofer said she apologized to the schnauzer’s owner, and she offered to pay for the veterenarian bills.
“Now, she’s going to be an indoor dog. And when she goes outside, she’s going to have a muzzle on,” Frauenhofer said. “We’re also reinforcing our fence.
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| Bobra and Ray Cobb have a new kitten these days after 7-month-old Sunshine was attacked and killed in their back yard. Ray was hurt in the incident |
“I don’t want anybody’s dog to get hurt. I’m just really sorry about what happened,” she said.
The Cobbs say they are shocked that Peachy is allowed to remain in their neighborhood. So is their neighbor, Nancy Lavoro, who said Peachy barged into her house during Thanksgiving weekend .
“To our horror, a pit bull came trotting up the street — and ran into my front door. Next thing I know, the pit bull is running after my dogs through the living room, into the kitchen, and into my laundry room,” Lavoro recalled.
“I was thankful my kids were out of sight,” she said.
(Florida Today - Feb 6, 2013)
