Owner Fights to Save Dog Condemned as Vicious

An Escondido woman is fighting the county Animal Control Department for the life of her dog, Bronco.

The 5-year-old German shepherd, now on death row, is at the center of a dispute between Rhonda Simpson, who says Bronco would not hurt anyone, and animal control officials, who call the 100-pound male a “vicious animal.”

The dog has a history of menacing behavior, including an attack last year on two police officers, one of whom was bitten, officials say. They also claim that Simpson used the dog as a weapon against a neighbor last fall.

Simpson, who is tying blue ribbons to car antennas in a symbolic fight for Bronco’s life, claims her dog acted in self-defense when the police officer tried to kick him. And she denies a neighbor’s allegations that Simpson urged the dog to attack her. Simpson accused the neighbor, Andrea Minor, of fabricating the story to get back at Simpson for an unrelated disagreement.

Animal control officials had planned to put Bronco to death Feb. 1, but Simpson received a temporary restraining order, which expires Feb. 19, so that a judge might hear the case.

Simpson was at her boyfriend’s Rancho Penasquitos house last March when police arrived to serve warrants for traffic violations on the boyfriend, Jonathan Cannizzaro. Cannizzaro tried to restrain Bronco, but the dog “broke away from him and came at the police officers,” an animal control official said.

At an Animal Control Department hearing later that month, the dog was declared vicious.

“The hearing officer informed her that she would have to meet certain conditions in order to keep the dog,” said Hector Cazares, assistant director of the department.

Among those conditions were that Simpson keep Bronco in a fenced enclosure, obtain $100,000 in liability insurance, and tattoo her driver-license number on the dog’s thigh to identify it as a vicious animal.

Animal control officials say Simpson has complied with only the first condition.

But Simpson said that tattooing Bronco is absurd and unnecessary.

“They want the dog tattooed because they say they cannot distinguish the dog,” said Richard Duquette, Simpson’s lawyer. “There are other ways to do that, but it’s a question of effort.”

The case, however, has gone beyond the tattoo issue. Cazares said the issue is whether or not Simpson should have the dog.

“We would certainly be remiss if we were to return that dog to owners that have already demonstrated their failure to comply with regulations and that dog were to seriously injure someone,” Cazares said.

The neighbor’s complaint late last year brought Bronco under further investigation. As a result, Simpson spent Jan. 8 and 9 in County Jail at Las Colinas for failing to comply with the conditions regarding Bronco.

“There I was handcuffed with hookers and stuff . . . it was a great time,” Simpson said sarcastically.

Bronco was impounded Jan. 11, and, after an Animal Control Deparment hearing, condemned to die. But Simpson is fighting to get a judge to hear the case.

The officer who presided at the hearing was an animal control lieutenant, and that, Simpson said, is unfair.

“The (department) has been prejudiced against me. They more or less hear what they want to hear,” Simpson said. “I want a real judge to look at the facts. He would see that Bronco is not a vicious dog.”

Simpson bought Bronco in 1985 for companionship after her parents died.

“He’s my best friend. And, when you’re depressed and you don’t have your best friend, it makes things only worse,” said Simpson, who said she quit her job at a pet store because of severe depression after the dog was impounded.

“I would never have to worry about someone breaking into my car when my dog was there, or breaking into my house when he’s here. But now, I do.

“He’s more than an animal to me, it’s like I have a child. We’ve got a real strong bond between us.”