PENNSYLVANIA -- Erie police will file charges against the owner of a dog that squeezed through fencing on the Erie Zoo's grounds and attacked and killed one of the zoo's fallow deer on Monday morning.
A police officer shot and killed the dog -- a male husky about 5 years old, weighing roughly 80 pounds -- after it would not move away from the fallen 17-year-old doe and officers became concerned for their own safety because of the dog's demeanor, said Rob Culbertson, the Erie Bureau of Police's animal enforcement officer.
The dog's owner, who lives in Erie, will receive a summary citation for failure to control the animal, which comes with a $100 fine on a first offense, Culbertson said.
The dog's name was "Thor," Culbertson said. Police contacted the man who owns the dog late Monday morning.
"I don't believe he even knew the dog was gone, and he acted more shocked his dog would do something like this than anything else," Culbertson said. "We made contact and he's well aware of the charges coming."
Culbertson would not identify the dog's owner, who lives near Elmwood Avenue on Erie's west side, until the citation is issued and mailed, which could happen as soon as today.
The man could also be forced to pay restitution to the zoo equal to the doe's monetary value, Culbertson said.
Scott Mitchell, the zoo's executive director, said, "Our best guess is it would cost about $500 to replace her." Mitchell said the deer was one of the zoo's oldest.
Mitchell said zoo employees discovered the dog on the property, standing over the fallen deer, at about 8:30 a.m. Monday and called police. The doe was killed on the west side of the zoo property, atop a grassy, hilly area adjacent to Glenwood Park, Mill Creek and the Joseph C. Martin Golf Course that the zoo's popular train ride winds through.
Deer, sheep and other animals can frequently be seen roaming that fenced area.
"In my 25-plus years, we've never had anything like this happen," Mitchell said, referring to a zoo animal being killed by another animal that strayed onto the zoo property.
"When one of our animal keepers found the dog on the property, we called animal control right away," Mitchell said. "That dog was standing over top of the deer and wouldn't leave it."
Culbertson said that one of two police officers he called to the zoo for backup killed the dog with a shotgun. He would not identify that officer.
Culbertson said there was "no barrier" between the husky, Culbertson and the other officers, or other animals. "You just don't know what that dog is going to do," Culbertson said.
"He would not move out of that spot where he was," Culbertson said of the dog. "If we got within 3 feet, he kept eyeballing us. The safest thing for everybody, us and the other animals in that area, was to put that dog down."
Culbertson said the husky was wearing tags which identified its owner and showed proof of a rabies shot.
Mitchell said the dog "got through a piece of fence, near the golf course, on the zoo property. We had our people walking the perimeter, and they found a space where the dog looks to have gotten in."
That fencing was repaired Monday morning, Mitchell said.
(Erie Times-News - Feb 19, 2013)
