Officers capture pit bulls that attacked mule in Bowdon
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“My question is why in the world do we let owners keep dogs who attack animals? Do we have to wait until one of these dogs kills a kid for something to happen?” Harmon said.
According to Georgia law, animal control officers only have the right to take a dog from its owner if it has attacked a human. In that situation, they can detain the animal for 10 days before giving it back to the owner, according to Carroll County Animal Control Officer Billy Maples.
After the dog is returned, the owner is required to appear before a judge, who has the option of issuing a court order to euthanize the animal.
In Harmon’s case, however, Animal Control exercised the highest level of punitive action by citing the owner on two counts: breaking the county’s animal-restraining ordinance and an animal attack.
“As far as I know, this is the first complaint against these dogs and the owner said they had not shown aggressive behavior in the past,” Maples said. “When I went to the home, the dogs seemed peaceful, but sometimes dogs act differently when their owner is not there.”
Maples also reported that the owner had taken the proper precautions to keep the animals chained in the back yard.
“We will continue to survey the area and make sure they are restrained,” Maples said.
The dogs’ owner will appear before a judge in response to the citations.
“They won’t get off, they will get some repercussions,” Maples said.
As a result of the attack, Jonesville Middle School, which is a adjacent to Harmon’s property, kept students indoors yesterday due to the potential threat of a dog attack.
One parent, Amanda Blair, who has a son at Jonesville Middle School, said she approved of the school’s concern.
“It makes me feel good to know that the school is aware of dangerous situations,” Blair said. “I’m glad they kept the children in.”
Blair, however, said that as a mother of six children that range from ages 17 months to 16 years, she will continue to be wary of aggressive dogs loose in the area.
“I don’t condone having a dog known to attack children or animals,” Blair said. “Imagine if those dogs had gotten ahold of a child. I think that, as a dog owner, they need to be responsible. The animals need to be chained up and may even need to be put to sleep. If I saw them in my yard I’d probably shoot them.”
A court date to review the case is set for Nov. 3 at the Magistrate Court.
I'm just curious about some things that I read in your comment.
1.Do you know the definition of the word vicious? If you know the facts and these dogs attacked another animal, that was vicious...not quotations needed.
2.Does it really matter what kind of dogs they are or how much they weigh? Are you a person that follows the Bible? If so, did it matter how much David weighed next to Goliath?
3.You claim that the dogs were feeling threatened, by what? The mule? Was it roaming free on the dogs' property or were the dogs on the mule's property?
4.If the injuries are “alleged,” why would animal control issue a ticket and why would the family agree to pay for the injuries? Either they are alleged or not and it would seem to me that based on the findings of animal control issuing a citation, the owners are past the point of alleged. Furthermore, a fair trial could have cleared this up? Either the animals were guilty or not. I'm guessing that because the family agreed to surrender the dogs, they probably noticed the dogs were bloodied when they came home.
5.If the owners can't afford to be responsible for the actions of their animals, why in the world would they have the animals? Are they going to face the same problems with the child in utero?
6.A school NEVER alerts children to possible problems Why yell fire before the smoke? But I am curious as to what this 12 year old wisdom would have brought to the table. Would she have said, “Oh yeah! Those dogs? Duuuuuude like my dogs came home all bloodied yesterday. I wonder if those are the same dogs!”
7.You do realize that outside of the constant contradictory statements regarding the vicious nature of the dogs that were responding to a threat, you also have openly showed that you are directly involved and are doing nothing more than libeling the owner of the mule? The first half of your comment was more to the effect of you being a bystander with information and in the end, you openly admit that it was your dog, or at very least in your home. “...this has cost MY children” “...she lost HER best friend” “...HE laid in HER lap the day HE was murdered, SHE walked HIM before SHE got on the school bus” You even told us one dog's name. If you're worried about court costs, etc, you might want to think twice before you go posting things on the internet that you cannot take back. They can be held against you in a court of law. You leave a cyber fingerprint everywhere you go on the web. If I were Mr. Harmon, I'd probably go ahead and file a suit against you. I wouldn't care if you made $50 an hour or $5. Your animals harmed his animal thus you're responsible Be mad about losing your animals all you want but accept personal responsibility and shut your fingers.
Love always,
You're Transparent