Tuesday Marley's owner Johnothan Jones and many others in the community urged commissioners to remove the dangerous dog designation ordered by a judge a couple months ago.
Marley was "arrested" last fall after a neighbor reported he lashed out at Jones' stepson two times.
Jones used social media to push his narrative that the dog was a "war dog" and that neighbors who saw the attack "exaggerated" what happened.
Recently a judge ruled not to have the dog euthanized, but instead Marley would be classified as a dangerous dog, which requires his owners to have the proper enclosure and a sign posted outside their home.
On his GoFundMe page he claims that a "nosy neighbor" wants his dog "killed":
"He is now the victim of a VERY overzealous Animal Control Agency. Marley is a lab/shepard mix that has been trained to be protective and my children were playing cops and robbers. My oldest is 15 and was wearing a mask with a toy gun chasing my 5yr old and wrestling him on the ground. Marley took this as a legit threat and went protection mode and nipped my 15yr old son. As a result, a nosy neighbor called Animal Control who now want him euthanized... My family and I are FIGHTING for his life to STOP this horrendous miscarriage of 'Justice' and a long line of Black Booted tactics by the Bay County, Florida Animal Control Agency. "
Really, what is the burden of simply agreeing to having the dog declared dangerous?
He has to give Animal Control the contact information of the owner
He has to submit a photo of the dog
He has to, yearly, confirm that the dog is still at his residence
He has to have liability insurance for the dog - easy to do; add a rider to your homeowner insurance
He has to, yearly, submit proof of current rabies vaccinations
He has to post signage outside his house that he has a dangerous dog
He has to tell Animal Control if he sells/gives away the dog or if it dies
Ohh, what a burden! This is too much for this owner to have to bear!
"I'm nervous up here speaking because I know there's a lot of weight in all your votes," said Jones. "A simple situation of kids playing and a dog reacting in a protective manner shouldn't rise to the threshold of saying this dog should be killed or even a dangerous designation."
OK don't euthanize the dog but why would you think that the dog shouldn't be classified as dangerous???
The county's legal team says they do not have the authority to intervene, and according to a report by Bay County Animal Control, Marley bit a trainer from Dogmata Inc. on his arm and hand last week.
"I petted my old dog this morning, my chocolate lab and gave him his food and hugged him and went about my way," said Bay County Commissioner Guy Tunnell. "I'm not cold-hearted when it comes to animals, specifically dogs. I had an opportunity to see the dog personally yesterday [Monday] and the dog has some issues. I'm not a trained handler, but I could tell very quickly that the dog has some issues."
Right now Johnothan Jones' appeal is pending before a circuit judge. A petition on Change.org to remove the dangerous dog designation has more than 3,000 signatures.
(WJHG - July 19, 2016)
Earlier:
No comments:
Post a Comment