1 Pit Bull Captured After Frontyard Confrontation

In the latest incident involving pit bull terriers, authorities rounded up one--and were searching for another--following a reported attack on a 45-year-old man, police said Sunday.

Differing accounts from authorities made it unclear whether the pit bulls accused of attacking the North Hollywood man were the aggressors in the incident.

Animal control officers said the publicity following the encounter, which took place Saturday afternoon in the 11900 block of Ratner Avenue, was indicative of the near public hysteria over the popular breed since the killing of a 14-month-old boy last week in South-Central Los Angeles.

Pit bull owners in the Valley have been abandoning their pets in droves, said Jackie David, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation.

“Pit bulls are getting such a bad rap now,” she said.

At the East Valley Animal Shelter, which serves most of the Valley’s pet owners, about 10 pit bulls a day are being turned in by their owners, causing the number of pit bulls at the facility to rise from about 40% of the kennel population to as much as 60%.

“These people are bringing their animals in with no good reason other than the news coverage, and now they’re afraid of their own pets,” said Charity Anderson, an officer at the shelter. Before last week, only one or two pit bulls were turned in to the shelter each day, and those were usually strays, officers said.

Public concerns about the animals were heightened by media reports of two pit bull attacks on Feb. 24 and the Feb. 28 mauling death of the toddler by his family pet.

They were further fueled this weekend when television news reported that two pit bulls had attacked Sing To.

To was on the front lawn of his North Hollywood home doing yardwork when he was approached by two pit bulls, one white, the other tan, he said.

“One of the pit bulls came to use my lawn for a toilet,” he said. “I shooed it away. He was not willing to go away. Then another pit bull came up and started to circle me. To defend myself, I started trying to kick them,” he said.

To then slipped and fell. The dogs ran to him and began tugging at his clothes.

A neighbor standing nearby ran over and whacked the dogs on the head with a golf club, according to police reports.

The white dog ran away, but police caught the tan one, which had attempted to soil To’s lawn. The dog was pepper-sprayed, shot at several times with a beanbag gun by authorities and brought to the East Valley shelter, according to police reports made to Animal Regulation.

The dogs did not bite To or the neighbor, and neither man was injured during the incident, authorities said.

But the tan dog--and probably the white one as well, officials said--has a cut to its head from the golf club. “In this case, it’s very possible, based on the information we have here, that the animals are the victims,” David said.

The unidentified tan male pit bull, which shelter staff estimated to be about 2 years old, is “real friendly, a darling,” said David, who has seen the dog.

The shelter will monitor the dog during the next few days. If it remains good-tempered, it might share the fate of other pit bulls that have been accumulating in the shelter’s kennel: It will be put up for adoption.

But if no one adopts them, David said, “there’s a strong chance we’ll have to put them to sleep.”

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Avoiding Dog Attacks

Dog attacks occur more frequently in warmer months when there is more outdoor contact between people and animals, according to the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation. The incidence begins to increase in March and peaks in summer months.

Most dog bites occur between 3 and 7 p.m. Recreational activities, such as jogging or cycling, pursued during these times tend to provoke attacks.

If you think a dog may attack, Animal Regulation officers suggest the following:

* Avoid direct eye contact with a threatening dog. In a loud and low voice, tell the dog to “go home.”

* Do not scream or run.

* Try to remain motionless until the dog moves away. Then back up slowly until the animal is out of sight.

* If the dog attacks, “feed” it a jacket, purse or anything else that can be placed between you and the dog.

* If a dog knocks you to the ground, curl up and cover your ears with your fists.

For more information, call (888) 4LA-PET1.

Source: Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation