The number of cases in which pet owners are charged with owning a vicious dog is on the rise

SPRINGFIELD — Rachelle Hanson is a self-proclaimed dog lover who owns a pit bull-Labrador mix and carries no ill will against pit bull-type canines.

That hasn't changed, even after she suffered five puncture wounds to her left thigh when a pit bull-type dog attacked her as she walked in the 1000 block of G Street on Sept. 22.

A judge in Springfield Municipal Court on Wednesday determined the animal, a 7-year-old male, is a vicious dog that must be forfeited to the city. The dog, which had been involved in two previous incidents in which animal control officers in Eugene took it into custody, will be euthanized.

"I still like pit bulls," Hanson, 57, said after Wednesday's hearing. "But there's a time and a place for an animal to be put down, and this is the time."

The potential threat associated with pit bulls and pit bull mixes has long been debated. The number of vicious dog cases is on the rise in Springfield. Some communities have resorted to banning pit bull-type dogs outright out of concerns the breed is disproportionately dangerous. But those who say pit bull and pit bull mix dogs face undeserved prejudice point to research showing that other breeds may be more likely to bite, and they assert that responsibly owned pit bulls are great family dogs.

In the Springfield case, Greenhill Humane Society's canine program manager Katie Barnett testified during Wednesday's hearing that workers at the group's First Avenue Shelter in Eugene have never been able to handle the dog, named Zeus, during its three different stays at the shelter, due to its aggressive behavior.

In the most recent case, Zeus has been at the shelter since the day it bit Hanson. In the previous two incidents — both of which originated in Eugene — the dog was returned to its owners after being seized.

One of Zeus's owners, Danielle Mertz, faces a vicious dog charge in connection with the Sept. 22 incident in Springfield. She suggested Hanson had walked too close to the dog — which was with Mertz at a bus stop at the time — immediately before being bitten, but later apologized in court to the bite victim.

Uptick in incidents



Springfield City Prosecutor Matt Cox said his office recently has been reviewing reported dog attacks — most of them involving pit bull mixes — on an "almost weekly basis."

Statistics provided by the city show a clear uptick in the number of cases in which pet owners are charged with owning a vicious dog. The city filed charges in three such cases in both 2014 and 2015. That number rose to six in 2016, and to 12 last year. So far in 2018, a dozen more vicious dog charges have been filed. Cox said nearly all of the cases involved pit bull-type dogs.

The case decided Wednesday is the second this year in Springfield in which a pit bull mix involved in an attack has been forfeited to the city for euthanization. Brian Austin, the city's animal control officer, said he can think of only two previous cases during the past 7½ years in which that happened.

In each of those cases, Austin said, the aggressive animal was a pit bull mix. But he does not believe those kinds of dogs are inherently more dangerous than other breeds.

"It's not necessarily the breed or type," Austin said in an interview. "It's the sheer numbers, because they're being bred so irresponsibly. There's a huge population of pit bull mixes. So unfortunately, with the larger population, that means they're going to be spread between more irresponsible owners. That's what leads to these types of situations."

While some communities across the nation have banned pit bulls, groups ranging from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to former President Obama's administration have spoken out against breed-specific legislation.

The American Veterinary Medical Association, in a literature review issued in 2014, stated that owners of pit bull-type dogs deal with a strong "breed stigma" but that controlled studies have not identified the breed group as being disproportionately dangerous.

Also, an oft-cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in 2000 concluded pit bulls are responsible for more fatal attacks than any other breeds. But it also cautioned against enforcing breed-specific ordinances, pointing out that people can have trouble determining a dog's breed and also that other breeds may bite and cause fatalities at a higher rate.

Austin said Springfield police officials, at the request of a City Council member, at one point several years ago researched the feasibility of a citywide ban on pit bull-type dogs. He said officials concluded that "in reality it's very hard to enforce that type of regulation," particularly in a city such as Springfield that employs a single animal control officer.

"I think we would much rather push for more ordinances about responsible breeding programs and responsible ownership" in addition to promoting the spaying and neutering of pets, Austin said.

Stop Pet Overpopulation Today, a Eugene nonprofit group that defrays the cost of spaying and neutering dogs for low-income pet owners, offers special outreach to owners of pit bulls and pit bull mixes. According to the group's website, pit bulls comprise one-third of the national shelter dog population. More than 35,000 pit bulls are up for adoption every day, and 2,800 are put down every day, the group asserts.

History of aggressiveness



According to testimony and evidence from Wednesday's hearing in Springfield, Zeus's history includes a 2016 incident in which the dog bit a property manager who had done an inspection at the Eugene property where Mertz and her son used to live. A Eugene animal welfare officer used pepper spray on the dog during another incident last year at the rental home and did the same in February during another encounter with Zeus. The dog also reportedly has bitten deliverymen and became aggressive toward people in downtown Eugene just two days before Hanson was bit in Springfield, according to testimony.

Austin said Zeus was so aggressive on the day of the Hanson attack that two police officers who responded to the scene kept their guns drawn as he tried to capture the dog. When he finally did so, Zeus resisted enough to where the dog bent the aluminum "catch-pull" pole device that Austin used to gain control.

"This is, far and away, the most aggressive dog I've ever dealt with," Austin said in court.

In the other case this year in which the city ordered a dog put down after prevailing in a forfeiture hearing, a pit bull mix was euthanized after it had twice escaped its owner's yard in the 1400 block of Eighth Street. In one of those incidents, the dog broke through a fence and killed a neighbor's chihuahua in the presence of the smaller dog's owner. Weeks later, the same dog destroyed another part of the fence and attacked a German shepherd while a family there prepared for a child's birthday party, Austin said. In the latter incident a person was bit by the pit bull mix while trying to separate the dogs.

"Our city does not push regularly to do this," Austin said of filing forfeiture cases in order to have a dog put down. "It takes a pretty specific type of case for it to happen."