CALIFORNIA -- An Oakley woman suffered dog-bite wounds and her poodle was at the vet, but two pit bulls involved in a melee near a middle school will be returned to their owner, authorities said Thursday.
The woman sought medical attention but was not seriously injured when she tried to protect her dog in the fight, said Lt. Jane Andreotti of Contra Costa County Animal Control.
The dogs came upon each other around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at O'Hara Middle School, 1100 O'Hara Ave.
All three dogs were off-leash when the fight occurred, in violation of a county ordinance, Andreotti said. The pit bulls were in custody of animal control officials but have been returned to their owner, because they were not deemed to met the criteria of potentially dangerous dogs.
"Basically, we don't have enough to prove the dogs are dangerous," Andreotti said. "But we've talked with the owner, and she's acknowledged her mistake and that she can't have the dogs off collar again."
Andreotti said one of the pit bulls, a male, ran up to the poodle in the park to sniff it. The poodle growled, and the pit bull attacked. The poodle's owner then jumped into the fray to protect it, and the other pit bull, a female, joined the melee and bit the woman in the upper arm, Andreotti said.
That dog will complete a mandatory 10-day quarantine by animal control at its home, she said. The other dog was not placed under a quarantine.
None of the dogs were licensed in Contra Costa County, Andreotti said.
The incident came two days after a Shar-Pei mix and a Labrador retriever were euthanized for biting a man and woman on May 1 in a Brentwood neighborhood. Those dogs were deemed dangerous by animal control, and their owner volunteered them to be put down, Andreotti said.
(San Jose Mercury News - May 15, 2014)
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