(Beth Clifton photo)
Stamford Animal Shelter & Mohawk-Hudson Humane Society
STAMFORD, Connecticut; ALBANY, New York––Attacks by shelter dogs, occurring in 2014 at an unprecedented pace, were spotlighted again during the last week in June near either end of the Taconic Parkway, linking the outer New York City suburbs to the New York state capital in Albany.
Maggie Gordon of the Stamford Advocate on June 24, 2014 disclosed that Stamford, Connecticut resident Matthew Lazarus had sued the Stamford Animal Shelter for injuries inflicted by a Rottweiler. A day later a pit bull injured four experienced personnel at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in the Albany suburb of Menands, New York.
Lazarus on September 25, 2012 visited the Stamford Animal Shelter in hops of adopting a dog. A volunteer recommended a Rottweiler named Bosco, and took Bosco out of his kennel to meet Lazarus. Bosco allegedly had bite history, but Lazarus’ lawsuit alleges that this was not disclosed.
“According to the lawsuit, Lazarus suffered puncture wounds to his right palm,” and “required surgery to repair the ulnar nerve in his wrist and elbow. In addition, [the attack] caused a deformity to his hand and decreased sensation to his right pinky and ring fingers, among other problems. As a result of the injury, Lazarus was unable to perform some of the duties required of him in his job,” summarized Maggie Gordon of the Stamford Advocate.
“While court paperwork simply shows that Lazarus seeks at least $15,000 in damages,” Gordon added, his attorney, Alan Pickel, “said the extent of the medical treatments and other resulting problems will likely result in a six-figure case.
The Lazarus lawsuit was reportedly filed on March 7, 2014, more than a month before three incidents came to light in which dogs adopted from the Stamford shelters attacked the adopters. The Connecticut State Bureau of Regulation & Inspection had in 2008 and 2011 warned Stamford Animal Shelter director Laura Hollywood against rehoming dangerous dogs. Hired in March 2005, Hollywood was suspended on May 2, 2014; fired on June 17, 2014; and on June 20, 2014 voluntarily surrendered to the Stamford police department in response to a warrant issued for her arrest on three counts of reckless endangerment.
But the Lazarus case was not among the cases listed in the city of Stamford’s statement outlining the charges against Hollywood.
“”I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other instances of similar situations given the manner that they handled their affairs over there,” Pickel told Gordon.
Meanwhile in Menands, two to three hours north of Stamford via the Taconic Parkway, a pit bull being held by Mohawk Hudson Humane Society staff while receiving a rabies vaccination apparently shook off a muzzle, bit one staff member to the bone, inflicting leg and hand injuries, then bit three other staff members who rushed to her aid.
“The 2-year-old dog was just hours from being released back to its owner,” Jordan Carleo-Evangelist of the Albany Times-Union reported. “The male pit bull mix, estimated to weigh about 60 pounds, was being held at the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society after it bit two people in Albany,” making in all six bite victims in about three days.
The pit bull escaped the clinic area where the staff members were bitten, but was caught and shot by police in an exterior holding area, after police determined that a tranquilizer could not be used.
“I can’t go into detail about our employee’s injuries other than to say two were severe and two were minor,” Mohawk Hudson Humane Society executive director Brad Shear told ANIMALS 24-7. “All required medical attention. The person handling the dog is very experienced with aggressive dogs,” Shear added.
Beth & Merritt Clifton.
(Geoff Geiger photo)
Thirty-nine people are known to have been injured by shelter dogs in the first half of 2014. At least thirty of the dogs were pit bulls, two were German shepherds, one was an Australian cattle dog, and five were not identified by breed.
Only 25 people were known to have been injured by shelter dogs in all of 2013, and 15 in 2012.
35 shelter dogs have killed people since 2010, up from five in the preceding 22 years, and none in the 130 years before that.
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I feel for everyone involved. These absolutely avoidable incidents will continue until the public wakes up and admits that, while many might like, love, and want to defend the dogs’ reputations, those reputations were gained because of a history of incidents like these.
I feel badly for those bitten but all should realize that often these are severely abused dogs and the stress of being in a shelter, puts them on high alert and causes them to feel that they have to use the only weapon that they are known for and that is their teeth. Often keenel workers in shelters are not give the proper training and unfortunately usually these are the people who do get bitten. It is an occupationa l hazard. Today’s temperment testing is really not accurate for either the dog or those who will be handling the dog. Using plastic hands in the bowl of food is ridiculous and totally inaccurate. In a shelter situation, the only thing that the dogs recognize are their food and the small area of the cage in which they are kept. They guard it which is a normal instinct. How unfortunate that these episodes have occured. The sheltering process should be re-evaluated as well as the selection of those who work in the shelers. I was a hands on volunteer in a shelter for over 20 years and feel qualified to comment.
In the first 142 years of animal sheltering in the U.S., there were very few incidents of shelter workers being badly injured by dogs. When I surveyed occupational safety issues among shelter workers in 1993, about 90% of the reported injuries were either from back strain or falls while handling animals. Bite injuries were almost unheard of, even though shelters were receiving 3-4 times as many dogs and cats as now. Impounded dogs today are not any more often abused or neglected than in the past, nor are they any more stressed. The numbers of pit bulls and other “bully breeds” among them, however, has come up from circa 2% of dog intake in 1986 and 5% in 1993, to 38% in 2013 — and bite injuries have increased proportionately.
My dog was mauled by a shelter dog December , 2011. Our story did not make the news. The shelter worker was overtaken by the pit bull, who ran three blocks to find me taking a lunchtime stroll with my dog. The shelter paid the medical bills ($8000) by check, as they did not report this attack to their insurance company. The judge at the dangerous dog hearing said that “deep pockets” are a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that we did not have to make any life and death decisions based on money, as I knew the bills would be paid. The curse is that my story is less interesting to the public because the bad guys are “doing the right thing”, even though, legally, they could not have done less. I have to wonder how accurate the stats are on this one.
I am a shelter kennel manager from the early 90’s, and was a volunteer both before and after my employment. In the 90’s, any dog with any witnessed aggression would never have been placed for adoption. Most wouldn’t have been returned to the owner, in the majority of cases. There is a new, disturbing trend in which people seem to think that ‘love’ will ‘cure’ aggression. Nope. Just like the reality of sick, disturbed humans being violent and harming or killing innocent people, there are dogs that are born violent, and who LIKE to bite.
In the 90’s, we indeed had many more dogs in shelter situations. We knew how hard it was to place even great dogs. We didn’t think twice about euthanizing a known biter. Now there are dogs being imported form all over, and a high demand for ‘rescued’ dogs. I can’t imagine what makes people need to ‘save’ an animal to feel better bout themselves, when that animal isn’t safe to own. Look at all the people who want to ‘save’ the dog that tried to kill that little boy whose cat saved his bacon. I don’t understand why vicious dogs are so attractive to people.
With the advent of the No Kill movement, shelters feel the pressure to ‘move ’em out’. No Kill is against temperament testing in shelters, referring to stress. I walk the kennels, some dogs are stressed, but many like all the barking and activity. My own dog loved it when I boarded him. He didn’t have someone yelling to be quiet, there was constant activity, he loved it. With the emphasis on ‘live release rate’, shelters who do euthanize in the best interest of the public are condemned to high heaven and back. Officials love to use the shelters as scapegoats for their shortcomings and this increases the pressure to achieve those live release numbers. We’ve lost all our senses with the No Kill movement.