Raleigh may stiffen ‘dangerous dog’ penalties

There was a Saint Bernard named Honey that bit an East Raleigh man in 2013, only a year after it attacked two Chihuahuas in the same neighborhood.

Then there was Nala, who Raleigh leaders heard about last year after she attacked another canine at the Oakwood Dog Park.

Now there’s Pablo, a pitbull that city police labeled “potentially dangerous” last month after he attacked a bulldog and woman in separate incidents on Millbank Street.

Several dangerous dogs have roamed through East Raleigh in recent years, injuring pets and residents and drawing city fines for their owners. But residents say the penalties haven’t prompted dog owners to better train or secure their dogs.

So Raleigh leaders are now considering harsher penalties for people whose dogs bite other pets or humans on more than one occasion.

“If it’s not working, it’s not working,” Councilwoman Mary-Ann Baldwin said of the city’s punishment structure. “This isn’t acceptable to me.”

Councilman John Odom said he would like to “tighten up the law a little bit.”

“After the second time, something ought to be done pretty strongly,” Odom said.

Owners of dogs that bite people or other pets are currently fined $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second and $150 for a third. Under certain circumstances, the city can seize dangerous dogs and hold them for 10 days. But it rarely does so.

And there are no city rules that permit or require the city to euthanize a dangerous dog, police spokesman Jim Sughrue said.

The council’s Law and Public Safety Committee, led by Baldwin, this week asked city staff to investigate whether City Council should implement higher fines and quicker action against owners of such dogs.

It did so after hearing from Sue Sturgis, whose bulldog was attacked by Pablo on Sept. 3. Sturgis said she has spent more than $1,000 on vet bills to treat her dog for his injuries.

“It ripped his shoulder so bad that you could see the bone,” she said. “It was extremely traumatic.”

The committee set no deadline for reporting back, but staff says they could update the committee at its next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 27.

City leaders made minor rule tweaks in recent years, but some East Raleigh residents say the rules haven’t made them safer. Pablo was being held at the Wake County Animal Shelter as of Friday, but Sturgis said she and others still live in fear because the area has developed a reputation as a home for dangerous dogs.

“There are people who walk with golf clubs, with baseball bats” to protect themselves, she said.

Sturgis and Teresa Washburn, whose Chihuahuas were attacked by Honey the Saint Bernard in 2012, want the city to send a message to dog owners.

“If their dogs are deemed dangerous, these people should have to have liability insurance or they should be required to put their dogs in muzzles at all times,” Washburn said.

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Raleigh may stiffen ‘dangerous dog’ penalties."