A trial before Municipal Court Judge William Bowkley started Thursday evening after settlement talks broke down between dog owners Gary and Susan Kolb of Oak Ridge and Municipal Prosecutor James LaSala.
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| Susan Kolb |
“We have concerns about the facility and (the owner’s) willingness to cooperate with our animal control officer,” LaSala said.
Imani has been the target of a proposed forfeiture for months, since the Kolbs were accused in October 2011 of walking both Imani and now-deceased Jumba, also an African Boerboel, without muzzles in Jefferson. The Kolbs adamantly deny the act, which is in alleged violation of a consent agreement they signed in Jersey City Municipal Court in 2011.
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| Li He and Xiangwei Liu, show the injuries that their baby, Joyce, received when Susan Kolb's two South African Boerboels, reportedly unleashed, knocked down Liu's mother who was carrying her, after a hearing at the Jersey City Municipal Court, Tuesday, February 3, 2009. |
While living in Jersey City -- where the dogs allegedly attacked four people, including biting one man in the groin -- the Kolbs conceded that the Boerboels were “potentially dangerous.”
They relocated to a new home on Summerwalk Circle, and a Jefferson police officer on Oct. 18, 2011, caught them walking the dogs in public around 6:15 a.m. without muzzles. The township quickly impounded both animals and subsequently sought forfeiture and possible humane destruction.
LaSala said Thursday he has investigated multiple possible facilities out-of-state and none are willing to take the Boerboel. When a pact couldn’t be reached on how much more time to give the Kolbs to find a new home for Imani, the trial started.
Jefferson Officer Bryan Christie testified that he saw the couple walking their dogs on Oct. 18, 2011, and questioned why they were not muzzled. One of the Kolbs responded, he said, by saying they were “afraid of bears in the area.” He said that Gary Kolb then showed an object that Christie said could have been a muzzle but it was not on the face of one of the dogs.
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| Kolb's two South African Boerboels |
Post testified that in 2011, he saw the Kolbs walking the dogs and he called the police department “to advise the dogs were walking out on the street.” He said the dogs did not have muzzles and he overheard one of the Kolbs tell a police officer who approached them: “The muzzles are too hard to put on.”
Dunn said that Post’s appearance was “a complete surprise” and he wanted a chance to check out his story. The judge said the trial would resume on Feb. 21.
Susan Kolb, who said she has collected on a petition nearly 10,000 signatures from people around the world who want to help save Imani, said she firmly believes the township wants to euthanize her pet.
“This case is about breed hysteria, breed prejudice. That’s what this case is about,” she said.
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| If she really loved her pets, she wouldn't have let them keep attacking people. |
The surviving Boerboel currently is being held in the township pound. To date, the Kolbs have reimbursed the township about $5,000 of more than $12,000 it has paid to feed and shelter Imani and Jumba, before his death.
While the forfeiture action is a civil matter, the Kolbs also are being criminally prosecuted in Superior Court, Morristown, for alleged violation of the Jersey City court order governing the dogs.
A Superior Court judge Thursday morning heard arguments on whether to dismiss the indictment against the couple and said she expects to issue a written ruling.
(Daily Record - Feb 8, 2013)
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