I had a similar experience this past December. My husband took our 2 dogs out, Harley and Isabel. Izzy saw some dogs at the back of the property (we live on 2 acres) and she took off. He took off after her, forgetting about Harley. When Harley realized what was going on, he took off and met the male dog (a husky) who attacked him and wounded him so severly, he died the next day at the emergency vets. I never thought to call animal control, but a friend did a couple days later. The Officer was wonderful; she pursued this case to the very end. She had the owner served with a court order. He hired an attorney who was surprised she showed up in court. She told him it was her job to protect the animals in our county and support the owners. Bottom line, I did get some compsenation for my monetary loss and the owner of the vicious dog (whom he transported to Florida to get him out of her reach) is prohibited from owning any dog for 3 years. Did it bring Harley back? No and it still breaks our hearts, he was such a baby, a sweet, easy going guy unless something threatened Isabel. But I did get the satisfaction of causing this guy time, trouble, and money. Our animal control officer is just wonderful and I never appreciated how wonderful until I read this post. She takes her job very seriously. She did not give up, it took her almost 6 months to find the guy and bring him to court. Good luck in however you pursue this and pursue it you will have to do. |