The boys, students at Lincoln Elementary School, were bitten in the buttocks and thighs and suffered puncture wounds and scratches, said Police Chief James O’Connor. They were taken by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center. Further information on their conditions could not be obtained Tuesday evening.
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| STAFF PHOTO/TARIQ ZEHAWI |
The dog, an adult pit bull mix named Harley, has been quarantined, and its owner faces citations. The dog had run from its home on Valley Brook Avenue and it’s unclear how it got out, O’Connor said. The house is around the corner from the boys’ school.
“[The boys] were walking on the sidewalk when the dog ran and attacked them,” the police chief said.
Police are investigating reports that the dog has attacked before.
“We know the dog has bitten someone in the past,” O’Connor said. “We’re going to move forward to see if we can have the dog labeled as a potentially dangerous animal through the Bergen County Animal Shelter.”
A shelter employee picked up the dog after the incident. Harley will be quarantined for at least 10 days and the township government and shelter will decide whether it’s a dangerous animal, O’Connor. If that determination is made, two options follow: the owner would have to build a dual fence a minimum of six-feet high with a warning sign, or the dog would be killed.
The owner, who was not identified, will be cited for allowing the dog to run at large and for having an unlicensed animal. More charges could follow, O’Connor said.
(NorthJersey.com - June 11, 2013)
