UPDATED WITH PHOTOS AND EARLIER STORY LINK: Despite 13 previous calls about vicious pit bulls which attacked Golden Retriever puppy, McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell orders dogs to be returned to owner

ILLINOIS -- Two pit bulls who attacked a puppy last year — also injuring two people who intervened — were spared a death sentence Thursday and were ordered to be returned to their owner.

McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell called pit bull breeds "ticking time bombs" who are trained to fight and said he doesn't understand why people would want to own such dogs.

But the judge said authorities failed to provide "clear and convincing evidence" that Molly and Sawyer, the dogs who attacked a 6-month-old Golden Retriever Sept. 9 of last year, should be legally deemed vicious and euthanized.


The judge's ruling came despite a recommendation from McHenry County Animal Control that the dogs be put down. The animals were removed from the owner's home in McHenry following the attack.

Animal control authorities had said the dogs were not "consistent or compliant with obedience commands" and that interviews with other residents of the McHenry neighborhood where they resided "identified 13 additional complaints and/or statements about the ... pit bulls and the threat the dogs pose to the community."

Upon hearing the judge's ruling, Lara Coler, the pit bulls' owner, cried and hugged her attorney.

The golden retriever's owner, Steve Cuda, was visibly angered by the outcome, saying incredulously, "She's getting her dogs back?"

 

Coler is due to receive her dogs Friday. Her lawyer indicated that, since the attack, she has gotten another pit bull-type dog.

Cuda, a former McHenry mayor, was walking his leashed golden retriever, Addie, around their neighborhood when the two other dogs, who were not leashed, came charging at Addie.

The retriever sustained dozens of wounds all over her body, her owners said. She has healed physically but, a full year later, remains skittish and fearful of loud noises, they said.

 

 

Cuda suffered a separated shoulder and a bite on his hand while trying to break up the attack. His wife, Annette, who showed up during the attack and also tried to intervene, was bitten on her hand, they said.

Steve Cuda said the attack was "like a scene from a horror movie," calling his dog's yelps "the most sickening sound I ever heard."

Defense attorney William Dennison II pointed out that, in the chaos of the moment, it wasn't clear which dogs actually bit the Cudas.

Lisa Lembke of the animal control division said that, of the 40 dangerous dogs she has investigated, the case was the first in which she asked the courts to make a vicious dog declaration.

Since the dogs were removed from Coler's home days after the attack, she has paid the McHenry County Health Department nearly $7,000 to cover the costs of housing and caring for the animals while the case was pending, according to documents filed in the McHenry County court.



The house where the two pit bulls live. Actually, according to her attorney
she has since gotten a THIRD PIT BULL

The Cudas also have filed a civil lawsuit against Coler and her friend, Rex Corley, who was staying at her home at the time of the dog attack. The Cudas are seeking in excess of $50,000, which Steve Cuda said was to cover medical costs they incurred. The case is pending.

Coler has said she was at work at the time of the incident. Corley has said he let the dogs out and went to help when he heard Steve Cuda screaming.

The yard had an electric fence, Coler has said. Molly was wearing her shock collar but Sawyer was not, Coler said.

(Chicago Tribune - Sept 10, 2015)

Earlier:

• Puppy Survives Pit Bull Attack in McHenry