On Dec. 18, two pit bull terriers attacked five people, including a preteen girl, in the 200 block of 29th Avenue East. Three of the victims received bite wounds; one was severely injured. The other two were bit at but did not suffer any injuries, according to Don Baxter, an enforcement officer with the Seattle Animal Shelter.
Police officers responded and secured the animals, which were later turned over to the Animal Shelter. According to Baxter, the Animal Shelter notified the suspected owners that the dogs, which were not licensed, would become city property if they were not claimed. Despite several notifications, no one came, and the dogs were euthanized in mid-March.
The city has denied the case, according Jennifer Grant, the city prosecutor who had been handling the case.
The dogs' owners were being charged with negligent control of animals and owning dangerous animals within city limits, Baxter said in February. Both are criminal charges.
The city is "not going to be able to file criminal charges," Grant said, because the city has been unable to link the dogs to an actual owner.
The dogs were often seen around a residence occupied by an elderly woman and possibly by her grandson.
"The dogs probably belonged to the grandson," Grant said. However, the city could not find anyone who could or would testify to that in court.
"It was a really vicious attack on a number of people.... But nobody was able to identify the dogs," she said.
Had the case gone to trial, the dogs would have remained in the custody of the Animal Shelter. Typically, these cases are resolved within six months, Baxter said, but in recent years there was one case that lasted for six years and went to the state supreme court. For the entire time, the city held the animal in question.
Profiling dogs
No breeds are designated as dangerous animals. Rather, charges are issued for individual cases of an animal that has attacked a human. The Animal Shelter does not differentiate between dog breeds for bite incidents.
"I'm not seeing anything come across my desk that indicates any one breed" is more dangerous than any other, Baxter said. "The nastiest dog I ever dealt with was a border collie. That dog just wasn't going to back down until it had bit me. Does that mean all border collies are dangerous? No ... All kinds of breeds can inflict severe injury."
Yet, several communities in Washington have passed breed-specific bans targeting pit bulls. The most recent to do so was Auburn, which passed a ban on the animals last February. There is no group in Seattle that is pushing for a breed-specific ban that Baxter is aware of.
Education is vital to preventing dog attacks, according to Eve Holt, spokesperson for the Humane Society for Seattle/King County.
In a typical year, the Seattle/King County Humane Society handles about 7,000 pet adoptions, spays or neuters 4,500 animals and speaks to 400 schoolchildren about safety around animals. Each month 65 to 75 dogs go through training classes offered by the organization.
The Seattle/King County Humane Society opposes breed-specific bans. The bans, Holt said, are reactions based on a lack of understanding of the issues.
"We know from statistics that the dog most likely to bite is an un-neutered male or un-spayed female that hasn't been socialized" with other dogs and humans, Holt said. To lessen the chances a dog would bite, owners should have their dogs neutered or spayed and socialize them.
Furthermore, bans are inflexible and rooted in the prevailing public mentality of the times, she said. Holt noted that when she was growing up, the scary dogs in the public perception were German shepherds; today, it is pit bulls.
People have a heightened sense of awareness when a pit bull is involved and are more likely to report incidents involving pit bulls, Baxter said based on his experience. "Someone is less likely to call if they see a cocker spaniel running down the street," he noted.
"We feel breed-specific bans are not effective and almost like racial profiling," Holt said.
The Seattle/King County Humane Society does supports "dangerous-dog legislation." It is based on an animal's behavior and the owner's responsibility to control the pet, Holt said.
Such legislation does not require an attack. A community can use it to address a specific dog that exhibits potentially dangerous behavior, such as chasing or even approaching a person in a menacing way.
"With dangerous-dog legislation, people will be able to take action," Holt said.
Weekly bite calls
The American Veterinary Medical Association puts Seattle's dog population at 150,000,according to the website of the Seattle-based Citizens for Off-Leash Areas.
With so many dogs, the Animal Shelter receives calls weekly for bite incidents in the Madison Park, Madison Valley, Madrona and Leschi areas, according to Baxter, and this is no different from any other neighborhood in Seattle. Last year, the Animal Shelter issued 70 menacing/animal bite citations in the entire city.
Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center saw 22 dog-bite victims last year, according to Dr. Tony Woodward, director of emergency services at the hospital. It was twice the number of human-bite victims, he said.
Woodward recommends that people "don't approach unknown animals, surprise them or approach/play with when they are eating. Don't ever leave young children unsupervised with dogs. Don't tease pets."
Environmental, hereditary factors
Many factors figure into a dog's temperament, including its environment and hereditary traits.
"I've seen dogs treated like objects. They have no reason to trust humans, but they're the sweetest things that can be," Baxter said.
He remembers an aggressive dog that had a litter of puppies, which were all adopted out to separate owners. Several of the dogs came to exhibit their mother's aggressive behavior .[[In-content Ad]]
