Result of Sylmar Mauling of 2 Children : Animal Control Chief Seeks Tougher Dog Law

Responding to a pit bull’s mauling of two Sylmar children, the chief animal control officer for Los Angeles on Wednesday asked City Council to pass a law banishing dangerous and uncontrolled dogs from the city and establishing criminal penalties for their owners.

Robert Rush, general manager of the city Animal Regulation Department, said the proposed ordinance would be the toughest animal-control law in the nation.

The proposal was prompted by last October’s highly publicized attack on two preschoolers by a Staffordshire terrier, a type of pit bull. A 2-year-old boy received wounds requiring 28 stitches on his head and neck in the attack before being rescued by a drain-cleaning serviceman. His 3-year-old sister required surgery for face wounds and nerve damage.

Later Destroyed

The dog was later destroyed at the owner’s request.

Shortly after the incident, Councilman Howard Finn, whose district includes Sylmar, asked the Animal Regulation Department to review the city’s animal-control laws.

Rush said Wednesday he had completed the review and would be sending to the council a recommendation that would give his department broad authority to take action against dangerous dogs and their owners. The action could include imposing conditions for pet ownership, such as requiring owners to post warning signs on their property.

Owners of dangerous dogs could be required to either give away their pets or remove them from the city if they cannot control them, Rush said.

“That’s proper,” Finn said when asked about the proposal. “People who can’t control their dogs shouldn’t have them.”

Would Monitor Bites

Rush said his department would determine what dogs are dangerous by monitoring reports of dog bites and weeding out the most vicious pets by noting the frequency and severity of attacks.

Although the proposal is aimed at controlling vicious animals, it would affect dog owners who allow pets to run free in violation of the city’s leash law, Rush said. Unleashed dogs are responsible for most dog bites, he said.

Under the proposal, dog owners who receive numerous citations for violating the leash law could be called before an animal control officer for a disciplinary hearing, which could lead to revocation of their dog’s license. If the license is taken away, it would force owners to find a new owner for the pet or remove it from the city, Rush said. The existing penalty for an unleashed dog is a $46 fine.

Liability of Owners

Rush plans to recommend to the council that dog owners be held criminally liable for dog bites. He said the city attorney’s office now must prove negligence by the dog owner. As a result, he said, it is often difficult to obtain convictions.

Under current law, if a dog bite occurs, “the only recourse we have is to go to court” to seek to have the animal destroyed, Rush said. That procedure has rarely been used because “putting a dog to death is not the way to handle most dog problems,” he said.

There were 8,260 dog bites reported in the city in 1984, but Rush believes the number is higher because many bites go unreported.