Two More Unleashed Pit Bull Attacks

Two attacks by unleashed pit bulls. The first is an attack on a Brittany spaniel. It seems the spaniel's owner managed to take pictures of the pit bull's owner and called the cops, with this result:

We showed the cops these photos of the owner and they said it was not their job to go after him; instead, they said, Animal Control has their own cops that had to do it. When we got back to the house later and called 311, however, they said Animal Control would only arrest an owner whose dog had bitten a person. So now there's an irresponsible owner who lets his pit bull roam free and no branch of law enforcement will track him down.

Read the whole thing in the Brownstoner here. This is no surprise to us; we previously posted links to New York state's law governing these thing, and in essence that law gives aggrieved owners recourse only outside New York City. The second is an attack on a young woman on Staten Island, but the feckless police seem to be doing no better:

According to a police source, the 123 Precinct responded to the attack. The incident will likely by treated as a civil matter, not a criminal one, the source said. The police department is also in the process of reporting the case to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Read the whole report, from Christmas eve's Staten Island Advance, here. We have previously proposed that the criminal law be amended to provide that if an illegally off-leash dog--and maybe any dog that's off-leash in public-- injures a person, the dog's intent to injure is imputed to the dog's owner. We think that's a good idea, and it's time the State Legislature pursued it.

* * *
Between about 10 and 10:40 A.M. we saw 5 unleashed dogs, two around Wellhouse Drive and three others cavorting on the Peninsula Meadow. Here's one.