New Westminster Animal Services will lay charges against the owners of two unleashed dogs allegedly involved in a bloody attack last month.
“It’s not often that we file charges in court, to be honest,” animal control officer Margie Fox told the Record, “but, in cases like this, where we feel that it’s more serious and, so far, the co-operation on one side has been non-existent, we’re not really confident that a bylaw offence notice would be an adequate response.”
The owners, a man and a woman, took off after the Aug. 11 attack before emergency services personnel arrived on the scene, according to a man who said he and a dog he was walking were attacked near a grassy area at the east end of Agnes Street.
The last known address of the owners was in New Westminster, according to Fox, but Animal Services believes the couple has moved.
“We know who they are, but we haven’t located them,” she said.
Cam, a New West resident who didn’t want his full name used, said he was walking Atticus, his neighbour’s eight-year-old wheaten terrier, when they turned a corner and saw a man, woman and two unleashed dogs lying about 50 to 75 feet away.
Cam originally identified both dogs as pitbulls, but Animal Services has since said only one of the dogs appears to be a “bully breed,” while the other, the one apparently responsible for most of the damage, has actually been determined to be a Labrador-retriever/Shar Pei mix.
Cam said the Lab/Shar Pei charged and bit him several times before clamping on to Atticus’s neck.
The second dog eventually joined in the attack, according to Cam.
He said he sustained bites to his right hand during the incident, as well as 10 deep bite wounds to his left leg and a deep bite and tear to his left hand, which resulted in tendon damage and required several stitches to close.
Atticus, meanwhile, sustained cuts to both sides of his head that required stitches and a 10-inch tear on his neck that required surgery and the insertion of three drain tubes to repair.
The charges against the owners will likely include at least two counts of dogs not leashed and two counts of dog caused serious injury, according to Fox.
“I don’t think it was intentional,” she said. “It was just, unfortunately, something that could have been prevented very easily.”
