Special Unit Goes After ‘Hoodlum’ Canines

A pack of “stray hoodlums” roamed Pacoima streets Thursday morning, growling and nipping at each other--then scattering quickly as animal control officers approached with ropes.

Two dogs were captured, three ran away and two ran home, one jumping a black iron fence into its yard, the other squeezing through a gap in the fence of the house next door.

Los Angeles Animal Services officers followed, slapping the owners of each dog with $76 leash violation citations.

The effort was part of the so-called Operation Dog Pack, an aggressive mission on the part of the Los Angeles Police Department and city Animal Services to rid the streets of what officials call “stray hoodlums.”

The two agencies wanted to send a message to dog owners in the northeast San Fernando Valley, an area officials say ranks second only to South-Central Los Angeles in its number of stray dogs, most of which regularly terrorize residents, and are not inoculated against rabies.

“Every day, we get multiple calls regarding vicious dogs,” said LAPD Sgt. Ken Kuntuzos of the Foothill Division. “These dogs are scaring children and they’re taking us away from crime time.”

Animal Services special enforcement units patrol the northeast Valley daily, spokeswoman Jackie David said, but Thursday marked the first time that police participated in the mission.

And it’s not a cheap one. Special enforcement units cost the city about $250,000 a year, David said. That doesn’t include the cost of impounding or treating the animals or the help units often get from local law enforcement agencies.

At the end of Thursday’s aggressive four-hour hunt, 20 dogs had been impounded and five owners had received citations.

In Sylmar, one dog was shot to death by police when it attacked an officer responding to a call about a vicious dog, Kuntuzos said. The dog had attacked its owner and a neighbor before police arrived.

“The officer tried pepper spray but it had no effect,” Kuntuzos said. “Apparently the dog, a mixed chow and pit bull, was trying to breed with a smaller dog in the same yard and the owner tried to separate them. The big dog got very aggressive.”

But most of the dogs impounded Thursday were captured without incident.

Animal Services officials said the dogs will be held for five days. If owners do not claim them and they are not adopted, they will be euthanized.

Smokey, a mixed Labrador-terrier taken into custody on the sidewalk of a residential street, was one of Thursday’s lucky dogs. A man immediately ran over to officers and promised to adopt him.

“He belonged to the lady down the street and when she died two months ago, we started feeding him,” Jeffrey Bustamante said. “We want him.”

Tim Goffa, the Animal Services officer in charge of Thursday’s operation, was glad to hear it. But Smokey won’t be available to adopt until he is neutered and gets his shots.

“We really try to place the dogs, but it’s not easy,” Goffa said.

In the 1997-98 fiscal year, Los Angeles impounded 80,000 animals, about 60,000 of which were euthanized, David said. Eighty percent of those were dogs.

“The animals are the victims in this case,” David said. “It’s very sad.”