Panel Favors Reward in Dog’s Death

At the urging of angry animal rights supporters, a Los Angeles City Council panel Monday recommended offering a $5,000 reward for information on the controversial killing of a pug dog in Encino.

But the Public Safety Committee took the action reluctantly, noting that it is still unclear whether the killer of Pal, the only companion of a nearly blind 84-year-old woman, was a coyote or a human.

“As you can tell by my comments and questions, I am torn by this,” said Councilman Mike Feuer.

In fact, Councilwoman Laura Chick, the head of the panel, opposed the city reward when the hearing started Monday. She argued that the $21,000 reward pool already offered by private sources--such as actor Mickey Rourke and his actress wife, Carrie Otis--is sufficient.

But Chick changed her mind and joined Feuer and Councilman Nate Holden in adding $5,000 to the reward pool after hearing the pleas of animal rights advocates and Carol Johnson, the daughter of the dog’s owner, Avis Wilkinson.

“The city needs to realize that there is a sick individual out there mutilating and killing animals,” Johnson said.

The city’s contribution would bring the sum offered for solving the increasingly controversial incident to $26,000. The total would surpass the $25,000 that the council usually offers for information on human slayings.

During the hearing, many animal rights advocates argued that the dog’s killer could eventually prey on humans unless brought to justice.

Lila Brooks, president of California Wildlife Defenders, said the attack appeared to be the work of a “satanic cult” and suggested that the city owes an apology to the coyotes of the area.

Pal was found in Wilkinson’s Encino backyard on April 8. The dog was missing a large chunk of pelt stretching from his shoulders to his hind. The dog died shortly after being brought to the Northridge office of veterinarian Melvyn Richkind.

Richkind and two other veterinarians who examined the dog at the behest of animal rights groups concluded that the dog was skinned by a person. But the chief veterinarian for the city’s Animal Services Department, Dena Mangiamele, along with an independent vet conducted a necropsy on April 9 and concluded that the dog was most likely the victim of an animal attack.

Mangiamele’s report says she found bite wounds to the dog’s left eye, left ear, neck and torso. She also said that investigating animal services officers found coyote feces in Wilkinson’s front yard.

Mangiamele said she has consulted with other animal experts who said such wounds are consistent with an attack by a coyote or even another dog.

At Johnson’s request, Richkind and other animal rights groups have refused to share their findings and evidence with the Animal Services Department. Johnson said she has lost faith in the department and won’t cooperate with it.

The controversy escalated this weekend, when Animal Services--armed with a search warrant--unsuccessfully searched Richkind’s offices for his files on the case.

Hoping to resolve the feud between Richkind and the city, a spokesman for the Southern California Veterinary Assn. offered to provide an impartial vet to examine the dog and decide if the killer was a coyote or a human.

Chick also urged Richkind and others with information on the case to submit what they know to the city attorney’s office for an investigation.

The council will make a final decision on the reward Friday.