This past Saturday several people were attacked by a "red nosed pit bull" out on the Prospect Road - and Animal Control seized the dog - after police pulled their gun on both the dog - and the dog's owner - on the dog because the police officer was afraid of what the dog was going to do next, and on the dog's owner because he picked up a hammer and was very agitated and was being very uncooperative with police and Animal Control.
The newspaper article said about the dog's owner - "They were more or less yelling for us to get off their property. It appeared that they were going to try to hammer the door of the HRM bylaw truck."
What is REALLY interesting about the newspaper article is the last part.
The Manager of Animal Control, Andrea MacDonald is interviewed, and she talks about the dog being seized, earlier in the article it was said - "The police will work together with animal services staff to determine what charges, if any, should be laid in the matter"
And then at the end, it says -
"Andrea MacDonald of animal services said the dog is in a kennel at the SPCA in Burnside. She said the dog is not a purebred and they refer to it as a red-nosed pit bull, which is how the owners registered the animal.
She said their investigation is still underway, so she didn’t know what will happen to the dog.
"We don’t have the authority to determine whether it gets euthanized or not," she said. "A judge will have to decide.""
Do you see there what I see? Do you see -
"We don’t have the authority to determine whether it gets euthanized or not," she said. "A judge will have to decide."
So when did that become official? When did Regional Council pass that change to Bylaw A300? What is the new wording of A300? How did we miss that at Regional Council?
Did some press release come out that we missed? Or were they just waiting for a high profile dog attack to happen so that they could release the news like that?
I wrote a letter tonight to my Municipal Councillor to see if I could find out any answers to my questions - so we'll see if we can get any movement happening.
My letter to my Councillor, Steve Adams -
There was a dog attack out on the Prospect Road and there was an article in today's Chronicle Herald - I've attached the article for you - and in the last sentence of the article Andrea MacDonald says -
"We don’t have the authority to determine whether it gets euthanized or not," she said. "A judge will have to decide."
When did A300 get offficially changed so that animal control officers don't have authority anymore to authorize euthaniziations and it's now on the say-so of a judge only?
I'm sure you know about the whole "Brindi" thing and how her court case quashed the part of section 8 of A300 that allowed animal control officers to authorize euthanizations of dogs based on simply a "reason to believe" that a dog was aggressive - and that the bylaw was sent to some municipal department to revised.
After that time myself and several other people have met with the Mayor and he was completely unwilling to talk about that section of the bylaw - but he did receive a written copy of what we thought were good changes to what the bylaw should have - and now by the sounds of this article - certain changes have been effected to the bylaw - and no announcements have been made - no press releases have been done - no consultation with the public has been made - it hasn't been approved by Regional Council as far as I can tell - unless it was done behind closed doors - because I keep a pretty close eye on Regional Council meetings.
So have official changes been made to A300? And if so - when? And what are they? And why is the City and Animal Control continuing to be so secretive about everything they do? It is just so disingenuous to work this way - they will never get any support from the public or any buy-in from them if they continue to operate this way. It is just so disappointing to find out about the changes to A300 from a throw-away comment in an article about a dog attack.
If you could give me any direction Steve, it would be much appreciated! A lot of people would like to know!
Here is the newspaper article -
Road rage suspect is a pit bull 'Big dog' hauled away by cops after cyclists attacked
By DAN ARSENAULT Crime Reporter
A Halifax Mountie pulled his gun on a man Saturday while trying to seize a pit bull that allegedly attacked three bicyclists in Prospect.
Officers were called to the area of 2396 Prospect Rd. at about 11 a.m. when a woman was allegedly knocked off her bike by Mercedes — a young, adult, mixed-breed female. The dog then punctured her foot with a bite.
John Bobbitt, who lives near the scene on Prospect Road, saw some cars stopping on the road that morning and went to take a look.
"They were helping a lady out of the gutter," he said Monday.
The woman was in his neighbour’s ditch and the dog owner was pulling the light-coloured animal away by the collar, he said.
"It was a big dog," he said.
As for the woman, "I think she was more scared than anything else," he said. "That’s to be understood."
She was taken to hospital for treatment.
Mr. Bobbitt said the neighbours moved in within the last year.
The police had not yet arrived at the scene when a second reported attack took place. A husband and wife were biking past when the dog charged and bit the back tire of one of the bicycles, according to RCMP.
When the RCMP and Halifax Regional Municipality Animal Control Services arrived on the scene, they allegedly saw the dog charge at another cyclist, trying to bite at his leg and back tire.
Animal services got control of the dog and put it in one of their vehicles to be taken away.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Joe Taplin said an officer, who had removed his gun out of fear of the dog and re-holstered it later, took his weapon out again when an agitated man at the house picked up a hammer.
"The homeowners weren’t very co-operative with police or HRM animal services," he said. "They were more or less yelling for us to get off their property. It appeared that they were going to try to hammer the door of the HRM bylaw truck."
Cpl. Taplin said an officer talked the man out of taking action and the man wouldn’t be facing charges.
Asked how the dog got loose after the first incident, he said, "That’ll all be part of the investigation."
The police will work together with animal services staff to determine what charges, if any, should be laid in the matter, he said.
Mr. Bobbitt said he didn’t know of the dog misbehaving previously. Ed Holt, another neighbour, said he’s never seen the neighbour’s dog or any others running loose in the area.
"I hear him barking once in awhile, but I’ve never seen him," he said.
Andrea MacDonald of animal services said the dog is in a kennel at the SPCA in Burnside. She said the dog is not a purebred and they refer to it as a red-nosed pit bull, which is how the owners registered the animal.
She said their investigation is still underway, so she didn’t know what will happen to the dog.
"We don’t have the authority to determine whether it gets euthanized or not," she said. "A judge will have to decide."
- this is a shower curtain I found at the Atlantic Superstore on Joe Howe Drive on the weekend - it is just the cutest thing - it's see through and it's got all kinds of different dogs on it and it only cost $9.99 - I thought it was so cute. I had to put it here - because you know what they say - "a change is as good as a rest" - and it certainly counts when it comes to shower curtains - especially when it comes to shower curtains and you have pc points to pay for it.
