Richard Holt says he and a friend were heading south toward Hogeye on Highway 265 in Prairie Grove when the pit bull attacked him, causing severe injuries to his leg.
According to Holt's Facebook page, "During and after the incident, the owners came to the opposite side of the road, but offered no help or apologies. One of the owners even tried to load the pit bull in the truck and drive away before the authorities could arrive."
Holt also says he's disappointed with the Washington County Sheriff's Office, who were called in to help with the incident.
"The animal control officer on duty decided not to impound the dog despite our pleas, even after it got back out before I was able to leave for the hospital," Holt said.
Holt is urging all cyclists to stay off of that road until the dog is removed and says he wants to people to work together to make sure that appropriate actions are taken to prevent future attacks from happening.
In response to the outcry regarding the Animal Control officer's failure to do her job properly, the Sheriff's Office released this well-worded and thoughtful response (edited for length, but you can read it in its entirety here):
UPDATE: In an effort to keep you informed, we wanted to post an update and let you know what we've been doing since our last post. The issue regarding quarantine has been a large part of the discussions here at the Sheriff's Office. Although state law allows home quarantine, in the interest of all parties involved, Sheriff Helder has decided to take possession of the animals. They will be held at the Washington County Animal Shelter for the remainder of the observation period.
The reason we've suddenly been inundated with so many calls is due to our response (or the feeling of "lack of response" by some) to this exact type of report a few days ago. After seeing the pictures, we can see why. Many of the questions were via social media, so we decided the best way to address this is through social media as well.
Discretion by law enforcement is a valuable tool, allowing the deputy to handle situations in a variety of ways. In this case, the deputy (animal control officer) determined the dog did in fact bite the victim. She then determined, based on evidence and listed remedies, to issue a warning for Violation of the Vicious Animal Ordinance and required the dog owner to secure the dog (in keeping with law), and to determine the dog did not have rabies and/or received necessary vaccine.
We can tell you that receiving so many telephone calls and posts via social media does get our attention and we truly do appreciate it, because it helps us to become better at what we do and helps us DO better for the citizens of Washington County.
In that light, and upon extensive review of the complaint, Sheriff Helder determined actual citations should have been issued. The owners of the animal have since been issued three citations for Violation of the Rabies Control Act and one citation for Violation of the Vicious Animal Ordinance.
From Sheriff Helder: "We apologize for the lack of confidence in our department that this incident has potentially caused, but we can assure you, we will always strive to do the right thing, to do our best for the citizens of Washington County, and when we err, we will admit it and use it as a tool to make ourselves better. We will also begin, once again, an effort to work with members of the Quorum Court to tighten up ordinances that will support animal owners and protect citizens from unwarranted attacks."
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