Meter reader back on the job after pit bull attack

MICHIGAN -- A Saginaw water-meter reader is back in action despite suffering the third dog bite of his 19-year career.

Dave Delgado's latest canine run-in came Aug. 15 when a pit bull mixed-breed charged him.
The 49-year-old was treated for the bite and returned to work.

"Do I worry about dogs now more than before? Yeah, I do. But I can't let it get to me. And I don't. That's the attitude I've got to have," Delgado told The Saginaw News.

 

Delgado was first bitten a few years after he got the job.

"It didn't break any skin," he said. "I had some rubber boots that went about halfway up to my knee."

The second dog attack, which came last year, was a bigger deal. Delgado was attacked by three dogs, earning him a trip to the hospital.

"That time was scary. It really made me think," he said.

But as far as Delgado is concerned, the job is worth the risks. He says it's almost worth it for the exercise alone. The diabetic walks 10 to 15 miles each day.

"My exercise is my job," he said. "I read meters because it keeps me in shape."

The danger he faces goes beyond dogs.

Delgado says he has been threatened by people, too. And one time he was sprayed by a caged skunk.
Saginaw Public Services Director Phil Karwat says many city employees walk into uncertain and potentially dangerous situations all the time.

"Everybody carries a can of mace and has been trained on how to use it," Karwat said.

The city is replacing the meter-reading system with an automatic, wireless system. About 6,000 such systems have been installed in homes and other city water customers, Karwat said.

That means nearly one-third of Saginaw's about 19,000 customers are on the wireless system.

(Saginaw News - Aug 29, 2014)

Utility workers trained to avoid dog attacks

OHIO -- A local utility worker is recovering after being mauled by dog while she worked.

The dog is now at the Animal Resource Center.

Utility companies are answering our questions about how they keep employees safe.

 

 

They say attacks occurrence or twice a year, but they train workers to look for signs of a dog. That could be a dog bowl in the yard or maybe a path worn in the grass.

The dog attacked while the USIC worker was in its yard on Sebring Drive in Huber Heights.

We asked other utility companies how they prepare their workers for incidents such as this.

“We go to a residence and there’s multiple dogs in the backyard, we actually will not enter that backyard, until it’s safe,” said Kathy Storm, Dayton Power and Light.

Employees will even knock on a customer’s door if there’s a dog outside who needs to be secured.
It is something Angela Green says she wasn’t given the chance to do.

“You know, typically they knock at our door and let me know that they want to get in the backyard and if they can’t they’ll leave a note on the door to call. So, I can’t understand. She didn’t even knock because my daughter was in there and so this is the outcome,” said Angela Green, dog’s owner.
Green says he isn’t normally an aggressive dog.

“I know that that’s the label because he is a pit, that yeah he’s vicious and no that’s not really the case.”

For the hundreds of Vectren workers who are in the field on a daily basis, the company spokesperson says they give customers a window of when they think they’ll be working at their home.

“And that way, they could react accordingly to make sure they had their dog put up or on a leash or if the dog was more prone to attacking people it could be remedied before the tech even arrives.”

They also tell employees to avoid sudden movements.

They also carry dog repellant and are told to get back against the nearest wall and work themselves out of the situation.

It will protect workers, but it will also prevent people from going through the pain of losing a pet.

“My dog is a good dog. I’m a single mom and it kind of makes me feel a little better knowing I have a dog, you know, at least they hear the bark and somebody wanted to do something, but I feel absolutely horrible at this point,” said Green.

We have a call into USIC, but have not heard back.

(WDTN - April 17, 2014)

Earlier:

• Pit bull attacks utility worker in Huber Heights

Pit bull attacks utility worker in Huber Heights

OHIO -- Police in Huber Heights fired rounds this afternoon at a pit bull attacking a utility worker who was working in the dog's backyard.

The incident happened at approximately 12:18 p.m. in the 7600 block of Sebring Drive.

The female utility worker was taken to the hospital for treatment of "serious bodily injuries" she sustained during the attack, according to a release from Huber Heights police.

The release came quickly after the incident. The responding officer saw the dog aggressively attacking and biting the woman and fired two shots, according to police.

The dog was not hit, but the gunfire scared it and it retreated back to the home, according to the release.

The dog's owner, who confirmed the breed of the dog is a pit bull, was unaware the utility worker was inside her fenced in backyard when the dog was let out, according to police.

The dog's owner tells News Center 7 she was shocked by what happened and hopes the woman is OK.

She signed over custody of the animal to the animal shelter. It will be in quarantine for 10 days.

The dog owner was also cited for not having a license for the dog.

(Dayton Daily News - April 16, 2014)

Homeowner calling for changes after Entergy worker pepper sprays her dogs

TEXAS -- A woman in The Woodlands is calling for some changes after her dogs were pepper sprayed by a meter reader.

 

Alicia Nicholas says while she was home for lunch Wednesday, an Entergy employee went into her backyard without first letting her know.

Her two dogs were in the backyard and when they started barking the meter reader sprayed them both.

He then left without explaining to Nicholas what happened.

 

“They should be knocking on people's doors before coming on someone's property,” Nicholas said.

Entergy told KHOU all of their meter readers carry pepper spray and are trained to use it if they feel threatened by dogs, and they said the employee in this case acted appropriately.

(KHOU - Dec 12, 2013)

Dog shot by sheriff's deputy

MICHIGAN -- A dog in Ypsilanti Township died this week after being shot in its yard by a Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office deputy responding to a call from a meter reader.

The sheriff's dispatch received a call at 11:32 a.m. on Monday from a caller who said a pit bull was trying to attack him.

The call was made by a 23-year-old meter reader working in the 1200 block of Hull Road.

The meter reader had entered the gated backyard where two pit bulls were locked in a separate area of the yard that was also gated, according to Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office spokesman Derrick Jackson. The Humane Society of Huron Valley, who provided medical assistance to the dog, could not confirm the breed of the dog.

While the man was attempting to read the meter, one of the dogs jumped the enclosure and attacked him, according to the sheriff's department.

The caller was able to use his reading wand to keep the dog from biting him, but he became trapped within the yard. He called 911 while the dog was attacking him and as he continued to try to fend off the dog, deputies arrived on the scene.

The dog charged and attacked the deputy, Jackson said. That deputy then shot the dog.

Deb Kern, director of marketing and media relations for the Humane Society of Huron Valley, said the 50-pound female dog was shot in the back and was immediately transported to HSHV by her owners.

"The dog came in and they (surgeons) did work on the dog for almost five hours and she did pass away," Kern said. "Unfortunately, she did not make it."

Jackson said Friday that the department interviewed neighbors, who said the dogs have a prior history of being vicious.

Details on the shooting were not listed on a media release from the sheriff's department earlier this week. DTE representative Len Singer said after checking all of the security logs, he saw no reports of any DTE workers being involved in the situation.

"I can't confirm that any of our employees were involved at all," he said.

DTE spokesperson Scott Simons said the company contracts its meter reader services out to a company called ACCU-READ Services, which is based in Ann Arbor. ACCU-READ representatives could not be reached for comment.

(AnnArbor.com - Nov 23, 2012)

Dog Bites Meter Reader

ARKANSAS -- Postal workers, meter readers and people in other occupations who visit homes are trained how to recognize and handle threatening dogs.

But despite knowing what to do, not all attacks can be avoided.

This report includes a photograph of an injury inflicted by a pit bull. It is not a pretty sight and not for the squeamish. But the woman wounded hopes that after seeing it, White County residents will agree with her that a vicious dog ordinance is needed.

The terror of Oak View Meadows moved out a couple weeks ago.

That is somewhat good news for Entergy meter reader Brenda Haney….although now she wonders where she might run into the pit bull that attacked her ten weeks ago again.

"The dog had broke his teeth off in my leg," says Haney.  "And I had heard that. I heard the teeth break off. I wasn't sure if he had broken his teeth off or if he had actually broke one of my bones."

The dog was chained to a pet carrier but strong enough to drag the carrier in order to get to Haney.

Mobile home park manager Sandra Fulmer says the owner of the dog, Aimee Wilcoxson or Aimee Panas…hadn't paid rent in ten months and refused to move out. 

Fulmer says both the woman and her dog were a menace to the other tenants.

"She cussed everyone in the trailer park," says Fulmer.  "She would not put her dog up. It bit several people."

"I'm really frustrated that there are no laws," says Haney.  "I'm frustrated that the dog could attack a child and then be allowed to attack someone else.  And it is still out there and it will attack again."

We're told Aimee Wilcoxson or Aimee Panas is now living with her dog and a large number of cats somewhere in the Beebe or Antioch area.

We tried unsuccessfully to find her and her phone does not accept incoming calls.

(KATV - Nov 16, 2012)

Tennessee: Dog ruled 'vicious' by Shelbyville officials

TENNESSEE -- The dog that attacked a Shelbyville Power meter reader has been officially declared a vicious dog by the city.

The animal, described in the police report as a "carmel (sic) colored pit bull," bit Carl Brent Cooper when he intervened in the dog's attack on 3-year-old Jasmine Farrar and her father, Tony.

The owner, Betty Stones of 536 Oak St., was cited and had to appear in court Monday.

There were two pit bulls chained to dog houses in Betty Stones' yard.
One dog of hers bit a child in October and a Shelbyville Power
employee on March 3. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves)

"The dog has to be kept on a chain and behind a fence," said Animal Control Supervisor Randy McCullough.

Only months before the March 3 attack, the same dog savaged a 6-year-old girl, resulting in 87 stitches. 

Because the girl had entered the home where the dog was unattended, no charges were pressed at that time.

On March 3, the dog, off its chain, lunged at Farrar and his daughter. Farrar picked the child up and held her out of the way, but tripped over the dog as it continued to lunge for the girl. A neighbor pulled the girl out of danger even as Cooper intervened, said Farrar.

Representatives from Shelbyville Power were at court Monday, but the Farrar family was unable to attend due to illness and being out of town. Paul Farrar, the child's great-grandfather, said a neighbor was at the session and said the judge did not look at pictures from the previous attack.

"They didn't do anything about it," said the great-grandfather.

According to the city charter, Stones will have to pay the $90 court cost, and be required to keep the dog in the house or chained behind a fence, and she has to get $100,000 liability insurance. The charter also states, "It shall be unlawful for any person negligently, willfully, or knowingly to: (a) Permit an animal to run at large, attack people or other animals, bite or attempt to bite any person..."

One of the requirements in the charter is that there must be signs with reflective lettering warning of a dangerous dog, not only on the residence, but on the kennel where the dog is chained. Currently, there is a "Beware of Dog" sign on Stones' front porch.

The enclosure in which the dog should be kept should have secure sides and top, according to the charter, and if the sides are not connected to flooring, then they must be embedded no less than 2 feet in the ground.

If Stones does not comply with the requirements set forth by the court, as determined by animal control, the dog can be taken.

The charter also states: "If any dog which has previously been found to be 'dangerous' as is described herein shall be at large and shall attack or bite a human being, upon report to the animal control officer said dog shall be impounded and shall be confined the number of days as prescribed by the state health department and after said time shall be destroyed in a humane manner upon notice to the owner of said dog..."

"If it gets loose again, we can pick it up and take her back to court," said McCullough. "I hope it doesn't get loose again. Who knows what will happen?"

(Shelbyville Times-Gazette - March 24, 2011)

Earlier:

• Vicious pit bull strikes again

Vicious pit bull strikes again

TENNESSEE -- The dog that mauled 8-year-old Ashlynn Vandergriff in October has bitten another victim -- but not the one it was apparently wanting.

"He was ignoring me and going after my little girl," said Tony Farrar.

According to Farrar, he and his daughter, 3-year-old Jasmine, were taking a walk down Oak Street on March 3, where Tony's grandfather lives, when they stopped to look at some kittens playing in a neighbor's yard.

"I saw a dog running around the house," he said. "The dog leaped through the air like it was flying."

The owner of the "caramel colored pit bull" refuses to destroy it.

He sad the dog, a caramel-colored pit bull, lunged for the toddler, who he picked up and swung out of the way.

"I had to pick her up and hold her in the air," said Farrar, "The dog was growling and snapping ."

When it ran between his legs, still jumping for the girl, Farrar tripped and fell, he said.

"I covered the baby and started yelling," he said.

"She didn't get bit because Tony was there," said Teri Farrar, Tony's mother.

He had help. Farrar said a meter reader nearby, Carl Brent Cooper, saw what was happening and started to run toward them with a tool in his grip. Another man, one who lived at the house where the kittens were, also came running.

The second man, whose name the family never got, swooped the girl out of Farrar's hands and got her to safety. The dog went for the child again, said Farrar, and Cooper intercepted it and was bitten on the arm.

He said a woman came out of another house and grabbed the dog and took it back in with her. By the time the police and animal control showed up, it was out of sight.

"The dog catcher said it was the same dog that bit that little girl, the one with about 70 stitches," said Farrar. He said it was supposed to be put down."

Randy McCullough of Shelbyville Animal Control confirmed that it was the same dog, although he was not on the March 3 call.

In the earlier case, the victim had gone inside the home where the dog lived. She was bitten on the face, arm and elbow and beneath the arm, resulting in 87 stitches. But because she had entered the house without the owner knowing she was there and the dog was current on its shots, the dog was not destroyed.

"We can only take a dog when the judge tells us to," said McCullough. "You have to have a court order."

Had the dog been running loose, the animal control officers would have been able to pick it up, he said.

The Farrars said Ashlynn was not the first victim, but the second.

"It bit some little blond-haired boy and he had to have stitches in his lip," said Teri Farrar.

"We had no record of a prior bite," said McCullough.

This time, however, the dog was running loose before animal control arrived and owner Betty Stones received a citation for that. She will have to appear in court on March 21.

On the police report for the March 3 incident, officer Jeff Goodrich reported that the owner told him the dog would be destroyed the next day. On Thursday, McCullough said she still had the dog and was trying to place it with a friend.

"She said she wasn't going to do anything with it unless the court told her to, but she was going to get the dog out of the neighborhood," he said.

He said the dog has been in in-house quarantine even though its shot record is current, but that quarantine ends Saturday.

The Farrars are concerned, not just about Jasmine, but other children in the neighborhood, should the dog get free of its chain gain.

"There are lots of little children in this neighborhood, lots of elderly," said Teri Farrar. "I saw a little girl out there the other day, about two years old. If that dog got out again, she could be killed."

"The school bus lets out and you see a bunch of kids, all 6 to 12 years old, get out," said her son.

"What are they waiting for?" asked his wife, Brittany, Jasmine's mother. "For somebody to get killed?"

(Shelbyville Times-Gazette - March 11, 2011)

Gas Meter Reader Attacked By Pit Bull

OHIO -- Deputies in Jefferson Township said a gas meter reader was attacked and bitten by a pit bull Tuesday.

Gas meter reader Neil Young tried to avoid being bitten in the leg by the dog, but couldn't.

Deputies said a pit bull attacked Young as he was trying to read a gas meter in the back yard of a home on Clovis Court. They said the dog made his way under a fence.

Young said he ran into a nearby garage and then used his cell phone to call for help. Authorities said a deputy arrived at the scene, but the dog charged at him, too, forcing the deputy to kill the dog.

Animal control officers took the dog away, and said pit bulls are deemed vicious in the state of Ohio, but that any dog can become a danger.

Investigators said Young is OK, but the dog’s owner could face charges.

(WHIO - July 11, 2006)