Tiger by the Tale

I confirmed with Animal Control that both dogs were collected yesterday.

They also told me that the owner is planning on following all of the requirements in order to get them back!

At first I was dismayed to hear that, but then, after re-reading what the city will require of her, I sincerely doubt that she will be able to afford it.

She has to build a “secure structure” for when the animals will be outside. Based on the description in the requirements it will have to be something similar to this, only bigger, to accommodate both dogs:

She also has to get at least ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS of Liability Insurance if she wants to keep these dogs.  And you know that can’t be cheap!

In addition, she will have to pay numerous fines, fees and charges as a result of the dog’s stay with Animal Control (Neutering, Room and Board, etc, etc…).

If, as she says, she’s already working two jobs to make ends meet, I cannot imagine how she will be able to afford any of this.

Not to mention the fact that she has to have it all done in 14 days.

Those dogs will not be coming back. (I hope…)

In a nutshell, the dogs are going to be taken by Animal Control TODAY.

Now for the details:

The hearing was held at City Hall at 3:30 yesterday afternoon.

When I arrived at the meeting room, there were seventeen other people from the neighborhood there as well!

At 3:30 the Committee members who were holding the hearing came into the room and started the proceedings.

When they asked if the owners of the dogs were present, no one spoke, so the Chairman said that he would give them another five minutes because “parking downtown is hard to find sometimes…”‘

To which someone in the group responded “Well, we all got here on time!”!

After five more minutes the dog’s owners still hadn’t shown up, so the Chairman started the hearing.

Five minutes after that (and ten minutes after the meeting was supposed to have started in the first place!) the owners ( a man and a woman) showed up!

So the chairman started the proceedings all over again!

First they asked for anyone who had a complaint against the dogs to speak, and it was a good thing that I went to the meeting My Minions, because while other people had been chased and threatened by the dogs, I was the only one who was actually attacked and bitten!

The Committee then gave the owners a chance to speak, and the woman actually had the gall to say how surprised she was to hear about all of this and why hadn’t anyone in the neighborhood let her know?!!!

To which some people said that they HAD told her and one of her neighbors had even brought one of the dogs back to the house more than once! And I chimed in by asking how she could be surprised when for the past three weeks Animal Control has been trying to contact her to confirm if her dog’s shots were up to date and they never heard a word from her?!!!

Well, that shut her right up!

After a few more questions from the Committee, they made their decision.

Both dogs were considered vicious and were to be taken and held by Animal Control for a period of 14 days.

During that time the owners have to fulfill certain specific obligations, such as paying for the mandatory neutering, licensing and micro-chipping of the animals, having a secured outside structure built to hold the animals when they are outside and also, now that the city has labelled the animals as “vicious” the owners are required to obtain special insurance in order to continue to have these animals at their home!

There are additional obligations but these three are the big ones!

And if these obligations are not met within 14 days the animals will be euthanized.

None of their neighbors believe that these people will meet these obligations, so the animals will be put down.

I am planning on calling Animal Control tomorrow to confirm that they have the animals in their custody.

And once I have confirmed that Animal Control has them, then for the first time in almost four weeks I will feel safe…