Bad dog, bad city
Just want to warn walkers. Yesterday night, some neighbors and their dogs were attacked by a loose pit bull near/on the 400 block of R St. One of the neighbors dogs was bitten so badly by the pit that the puncture wound could not be stiched up.But that wasn't the worst part of it. When the neighbors sought help from the city reporting the attack, they were met with useless unresponsiveness. One of the dog walkers who was able to grab her dog off the street called 311, while the other dog walker, bleeding, raced his wounded dog to the 24 hour vet. The 311 operator told the female dog walker that she couldn't report it because she wasn't the victim of the attack. Then she called animal control and apparently they were unresponsive as well.
She called the mayor's office and apparently the 311 operator was wrong. You know it's crap like that, that makes you disrespect the whole 311 non-emergency system. My own experience with 311 is hit and miss. Sometimes they will come right out other times the operator will be dismissive and seem to ignore you right off. I've been hung up on as well. And they blurt out their operator number off so fast sometimes you never get it.
Anywho, the police are called today to take a report. When the officer arrives and is told about the incident, upon hearing it happened last night says, "why are you just reporting this today?" Gawd. She called the police yesterday and apparently it wasn't worth your time to come then and the guy who was attacked was busy taking care of his dog.
Don't know which is worse the dog attack or the city.
posted by Mari @ 22.3.05
8 Comments:
My name is Ben I live near the intersection of 4th and R NW. Our beagle was mauled by a loose pitbull approximately 8 months ago. We have been through the entire process of working with myriad city departments, lawyers and neighboors in order to have the dog removed and the owner reprimanded.
I would urge the people who were involved in this situation to email me at turnerusa@yahoo.com We may be able to provide them with our lessons learned from the experience so that they won't have to go through the process that we went through. There is a solution to the problem.
Thanks, Ben
I'll pass it along to them via e-mail and I might try calling.
This makes me so angry!!!!! Hopefully the new pit bull legislation that Jim Graham recently introduced will pass. He has been trying to get something passed on this issue since 1992 though, so I am not that hopeful. It is so sad that a vicious dog can have more rights in this city than victim of its attack. -LT
I own a wussy dog that I fear could be eaten quite easily by pit bulls in the neighborhood, but outlawing pit bulls will do nothing to solve the problem. The problem is not the dogs, its the people who own them. Pit bulls are'nt bad dogs and if they are outlawed these idiots will just get rotweilers and abuse them and let them run around off leash.
I was always cautious while walking our old german shepherd. Not all pit bulls are vicious, but far too many are trained to be bad.
I was walking my roomates' dog, a german shepherd mix, by a neighbor's house with an unlocked backyard gate. Their mean Akita rushed out thru the gate on to the sidewalk and attacked our dog, who did not fight back. I had to pick up the akita by the scruff and throw him back in his yard and shut the gate. The owner paid for the vet bill at least.
Hello neighbors,
Funny to find you are the subject of a commentary! I'm really glad, however, to find this site, and am happy to know that my experience is being shared.
I was the one who was attacked on Monday. I had been walking my puppy down R St. when the pit bull in question ran at us from a house across the road. As the dog was wagging its tail and not acting overly aggressive, I wasn't aware of the danger until it started biting me. Eventually it was able to grab my puppy's leg by jumping up and grabbing it, and he wouldn't let go despite the fact that I hit him continually. Finally a good samaritan (wish I knew who it was so I could thank him in person) came along and pulled the dog off of me.
All of the previous commenters have gotten the story correctly, initially Animal Services wasn't being helpful, but I was finally able to get through to the manager (April Richardson) and she has been incredibly responsive, she told me today as soon as she found out that the dog had in fact been vaccinated for rabies -- useful info to have. Also, 311 responded immediately when I called- they just ignored my neighbor's calls.
Apparently we can't get the dog put down until it attacks someone else- an idiotic policy if you ask me. So be careful out there; from now on we're walking witha stick.
BTW, for your information, that pit lives at 407 R St. NW.
This comment is coming months later, but we just bought a house on Elm and 3rd and while doing the inspection we saw a pit bull running around loose on the street. is it possible that nothing has been done in the last 7 months about this dog?
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