Published: August 29, 2008 10:24 pm            

Owner of pit bulls remorseful

Citations are pending against a Kokomo woman.

The owner of the two pit bulls who bit two people and a Chihuahua Tuesday in Highland Park has come forward, the Kokomo Humane Society said Friday.

The owner said her dogs got loose and that she didn’t realize they caused the problem in the park.

“She was looking for her dogs,” Jean McGroarty, executive director of the Kokomo Humane Society, said Friday of the owner.

According to police, the dogs attacked a Chihuahua, a 17-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy in the park before being shot by Kokomo Police Officer Ty Solomon.

None of the injuries were serious.

The two pit bulls were not on leashes.

The Kokomo Humane Society was called to the scene, but the dogs were still trying to bite people and tried to attack the officer. That’s when Solomon shot the dogs with his 12-gauge shotgun.

The owner’s name was not released since the Kokomo Humane Society’s records are confidential until a citation is served, McGroarty said.

She said the owner will be cited on a public nuisance citation, for the dogs not having rabies tags and running at large.

The city’s dog ordinance doesn’t mention anything about dangerous dogs, she said.

“The ordinance was written before we had any serious situations,” she said. “We don’t have a dangerous dog ordinance. We’re working with the city attorney on it right now.”

The city’s dog ordinance was written in 1982, she added.

“It’s pretty basic. But it was before people realized that people should be held accountable for their animals.”

There is state law requiring pet owners to have their animal’s rabies vaccination and a city law for not having a city license, but there is nothing about if they bite people, she said.

McGroarty said the woman “feels quite remorseful” that her dogs bit someone.

“She’s upset her animals were destroyed, but she’s concerned that people may have got hurt.”

If confronted by an aggressive dog, McGroarty said, “stand still. Animals or dogs chase things that move.”

“If you run, they will chase you and they can run faster, believe me.

“We tell kids to make a fist with your hands and place it under your chin so your hands are not hanging down by your legs. We tell them to be a tree.

“If the dog jumps on them and knocks them down, we tell them to curl up in a ball,” she continued. “Hide your face and be as still as possible, what we call being a rock.”

McGroarty said the dogs may have been aggressive because they were confused and disoriented.

“When animals are lost or not on their territory, they get disoriented and can get aroused,” she said. “If you have a dog, keep it in your yard. Statistics show most animals that bite are not spayed or neutered. That takes the aggressive tendencies down a notch or two. It makes a huge difference.”

        

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