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Thursday, January 10, 2008
Posted on Thu, Jan 10, 2008 Zoom + | Zoom -
Killer pit bulls' owners come forward
By Joe D'Aquila
EWING — The owners of the pit bulls responsible for attacking two other dogs last weekend, killing one of them, have finally come forward to claim their pets, but township police said no criminal charges will be filed against them.
The owners, who have not been named, admitted Tuesday that the two pit bulls, currently held in Ewing’s pound, were their responsibility, but they’ll likely face only Health Department violation summonses.
“It’s just pretty much what we’re limited to under the law,” said W. Allen Lee III, the township’s health department head. “There’s really not a whole lot you can do criminally-wise.”
Lee said his department will have about three days from the time the owners came forward to determine what will be done next in the case and if a hearing will be scheduled in municipal court to decide the dogs’ fate.
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Lee said the family could avoid a hearing if they choose to sign the dogs over to the township’s custody.
“We’d sit down with the people involved and basically evaluate the situation and what we want to do.”
In either case, the dogs could ultimately be put down if they are deemed a threat.
Township Mayor Jack Ball said he and Lee will work on solutions to the township’s potential pit bull problem in an effort to ensure that something like this never happens again.
Police said the family lives in the 100 block of New Hillcrest Avenue and that they admitted the dogs, a male and a female pit bull, got loose from their home on Friday night.
A neighbor, police said, spotted one of the dogs Saturday morning and informed the family.
One of the owners’ teenage sons was sent to herd the dogs back home and was in the process of returning them there when they came across another teenager walking a Yorkshire terrier.
That’s when, police said, the two pits broke free from the boy and charged at the Yorkie, a 6-year-old female named Pee Wee.
The male pit bull picked Pee Wee up in his mouth, shook her and flung her aside. The dog was later found to have suffered a broken back during the attack and eventually died on the operating table during surgery.
Police said the owners’ son then regained control of both dogs and again began leading them home, when the pair broke free one more time, hopped a fence and attacked a Saint Bernard. The dogs were eventually brought under control by Ewing Animal Control Officer Richard J. Hutchinson and were taken into custody, in hopes that the owner would come to claim them.
The seemingly light treatment of the owners in the case was criticized yesterday by Deirdre Geurin, a model from Morrisville, Pa., who founded the fundraising organization “Pinups for Pitbulls” and acts as an advocate for the breed.
Geurin and 11 of her scantily clad pin-up model friends pose for yearly calendars, and she said she’s raised about $8,000 so far from their sales for pit bull rescue efforts. Geurin, who owns a rescued pit bull, feels the owners should be punished for their negligence and hopes the dogs won’t be euthanized, following along with the mantra of “punish the deed, not the breed.”
“I am glad they at least stepped forward,” Geurin said of the owners. “They should at least be made to pay a fine, neuter or spay their animals, if they’re not already, and should be made to at least provide a more secure setting for the dogs.”
Geurin previously criticized officer Hutchinson and his original account of his encounter with the two pit bulls, feeling that he exaggerated the ordeal.
“They weren’t there,” said Hutchinson, who said he needed to use a full can of bear deterrent mace to keep the charging male pit bull at bay as he attempted to bring him under control.
“They see animals at their optimal best,” he said. “They aren’t out in the street seeing what we see.”
Hutchinson said that despite no criminal charges being filed, the owners will likely face several summonses and potential fines of up to $1,000 for breaking township animal ownership rules.