Yarmouth NS Dog mauling nets serious, serious jail time for dog owner

This week the conviction came down for Gary Joseph Woods and victim Noella MacIntosh in the May 2011 mauling in Yarmouth Nova Scotia that left Noella permanently disfigured - and brought Nova Scotia to the brink of province wide bsl.

Mr Woods was sentenced to 90 days of intermittent jail time, to be served on weekends, and one year of probation - and during that time he's not allowed to own any dogs. He was convicted of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

In the Chronicle Herald article it says that since the attack he has become a changed man - I certainly hope that at least he has started locking the doors to his house - because if he had done that - none of this would have happened. He had previously said that because he had his dogs in his house - he didn't need to lock his doors - daring people to come into his house I guess.

Mr Woods let everyone down - he let his dogs down - he did not protect them from doing the damage to humans that they were obviously capable of - whether or not he trained them to do that - and he let Noella MacinTosh down - by leaving his doors unlocked. So he definitely was guilty of a crime.

I have said in previous posts that it doesn't matter that the dogs were pit bulls - there are numerous other breeds of dogs that could do the same damage that Ms MacIntosh received that day - it's just too bad for the pit bull type breed that Mr Wood chose to have that breed in his house - and for Nova Scotia and the ensuing chaos that ensued in the following months.

Looking at the Yarmouth town's website - they have written and passed a HORRIBLE dog bylaw that was passed in November 2011 - go and have a look at it.

The town officials can basically shoot on sight any dog that moves or barks funny. It's such a shame - they had the opportunity to write a dog bylaw for the 21st century and they had an EPIC FAIL. Such a shame. At least it doesn't have bsl in it - thank dog for that.

But I do think that it's fabulous that Mr Woods got 3 months in prison. People who don't take their dog ownership seriously and treat their dogs like ammunition and toys to scare other people - should take note that using a living sentient being for those uses is really not a good idea. The Criminal Code of Canada views a crime as a crime - even if it's being done by a living being that you've abuse enough to harm something.