Beasts of Burden (Page 3 of 4)

“When they picked up they said I’d have to call back [the next day], animal control only had one truck out [that day] and they’re busy picking up dead animals and can only come out for emergencies,” Baker says. “If this isn’t an animal emergency I don’t know what is, I couldn’t believe it, this dog was terrorizing our neighborhood.”

Baker says Buddy is back at home after a visit to the veterinarian, but will be deaf in one ear after the attack.

Both humans and animals are in danger when neglected or chained dogs are allowed to roam free. The results were seen recently in the case of James Chapple, 59, who was attacked by two pit bulls in Memphis in February. He exited a bus around 10:30 p.m. when the dogs ran out of a business and knocked him down, attacking so badly that his left arm up had to be amputated up to the elbow. Closer to home, Jacob Mason, a Knoxville city animal control officer, was attacked by a pit bull Feb. 27 that resulted in major bites to his chest, arms, hand and legs. Two residents had taken in the pit that had previously roamed free in the neighborhood, but decided to surrender the animal when they started to see its vicious tendencies.

“[Mason is] okay, I’m sure it still shakes him up,” Pappas says. Mason, who went back to work March 12, had applied for a position with the fire department prior to his attack, which he received and plans to take, Pappas says.

Many times neglect turns into cruelty, especially when animals are chained outside and left alone. Dogs that bite are often the victims of cruelty, abuse and neglect. According to the Center for Disease Control, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Humane Society of the United States and the United States Department of Agriculture, chaining and tethering dogs outside breeds aggression and is defined as inhumane.

“South Knoxville is full of dogs and I really like them, but a lot of people don’t seem to take very good care of them, a lot of them are chained up outside,” Baker says.

A CDC study titled “Which Dogs Bite?” found that “chained dogs are 2.8 times more likely to bite.”

“The dog most likely to bite is a chained, unneutered male,” says Crosetti. According to the HSUS, chaining dogs outside causes psychological damage to the animal by isolating it.

“Dogs tethered for long periods can become highly aggressive. Dogs feel naturally protective of their territory; when confronted with a perceived threat, they respond according to their fight-or-flight instinct. A chained dog, unable to take flight, often feels forced to fight, attacking any unfamiliar animal or person who unwittingly wanders into his or her territory,” reads the HSUS Web site. Chained dogs were responsible for 17 percent of fatal attacks between 1979 and 1998, according to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. “It comes back to socialization,” Head says. “It’s more unlikely [for dogs to show aggression] the more socialized and accepted into the family a dog is.”

Other states, like New York, currently have pending legislation that would limit the amount of time a dog can be tethered to six hours in any 24-hour period, and would require that the tether must be at least 15 feet long. Communities in Arkansas, Arizona and North Carolina have made it illegal to have a dog chained as a means of “continuous confinement,” reports the HSUS Web site.

“There is no law prohibiting chaining in Knox County,” Crosetti says. Since tethering isn’t in violation of any laws, Pappas says animal control can’t make owners unchain their dogs, take them inside or love them. “I wish we could, but we can only do what’s legally to be done,” she says.

When dogs are somehow able to escape their aggression-breeding restraints, experiences like Baker’s and Buddy’s are a dangerous possibility.

“I go running, and I looked up on the Internet what to do [if attacked] because [dogs] do get loose,” Baker says. From her research, she learned to put anything, even a sweatshirt, between herself and an attacking dog, how to protect arteries in her arms, and even how to break the animal’s neck in extreme situations. “I hate we have to look up stuff like that and be aware of it, but people are negligent and I don’t understand why they have animals,” she says.