Um, what were they saying about "irresponsible"?

Today, a man was attacked by a dog in the pound so severely that he had to be taken to the hospital.

Published: 2010-03-16

Man bitten at Metro SPCA

Pest control technician treated at hospital after attack

By PATRICIA BROOKS ARENBURG Staff Reporter

A man was taken to hospital after he was bitten by a dog at the Metro SPCA shelter.

Police and paramedics were called to the animal shelter at 5 Scarfe Ct. in Dartmouth at about 11:40 a.m. Monday after a reported dog bite.

The shelter is closed to the public on Mondays, but staff and volunteers are there to care for the animals.

"We had a technician come in, a pest control technician," said Kristin Williams, executive director of the Nova Scotia SPCA.

"Unfortunately, he entered a back area without an escort and he encountered one of our dogs and was bitten in the hand and taken to hospital."

Krista Beck, a spokeswoman for Emergency Health Services, said later Monday that the man was taken to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax with injuries to his hand and possibly his leg. The injuries were not life-threatening, Beck said.

Halifax Regional Police were called to the shelter because it was believed the dog was not secure, which turned out to be untrue, said spokesman Const. Brian Palmeter.

At the time of the attack, the female mixed-breed dog "was getting some R&R social time (outside of its kennel), but it was still a restricted area," Williams said.

The dog, described as a young adult canine, has been at the shelter since August, when it was seized by order of Halifax Regional Municipality, Williams said. It was not part of any cruelty investigation, she said.

She didn’t know whether the dog had bitten anyone prior to arriving at the shelter last summer but said it hadn’t bitten anyone at the shelter before this.

"This was an isolated incident and we obviously feel very sorry for the individual and hope that he has a quick recovery," Williams said.

The Metro SPCA, which had the municipal animal control contract, has a handful of dogs at the shelter that are awaiting proceedings to determine their fate, including Brindi, a dog that has been the subject of court proceedings and in the headlines for some time.

Williams said Brindi was not the dog involved in Monday’s incident.

Although the shelter has asked the municipality to allow the dogs to have "socializing time outside of the shelter, such as walks outside of the shelter, we’ve been told we’re not permitted to do that," Williams said.

"It’s a very difficult situation for us."

The dog involved in Monday’s incident is "back in quarantine . . . but we haven’t received further direction from HRM other than to return her to kennel, which we’ve done," Williams said.

The municipality’s animal services division is investigating.

( pbrooks@herald.ca) © 2008 The Halifax Herald Limited

We don't want to seem overly critical, but we have to ask: who's irresponsible now, Kristin Williams? HRM? 


Whether or not it's an "isolated incident" matters little to the man, and even less under the law. The fact is that it happened, and there was no "due diligence". If they were ever charged, which we doubt will happen, this attack would likely earn the SPCA staff a guilty conviction in provincial court, if not also a euthanization order for the dog. One attack is enough, if the incident is severe enough.

The SPCA runs the HRM pound within the confines of the Metro Shelter, a modestly sized building. We have been led to believe the pound is kept separate from the rest of the shelter. So it's hard to understand how a dog could be walking around loose, especially when they know the place is going to be sprayed for bugs? Why wasn't anybody accompanying the man, or at least watching the dog? 

However, if the dog is loose (how can it be "untrue" it was not "secure"; it was out of the cage), we can easily understand how such an attack could happen. The SPCA pretty much admits these dogs are not given enough exercise, though they blame that on HRM. So the dog is bound to be a bit wired up, and react to a strange man - possibly holding some equipment, or wearing a mask, or whatever. But the bottom line is, this should not have happened. And somebody was indeed irresponsible.

Meanwhile, if what is said about Brindi is true, we are thrilled to note that in a year and a half of her illegal incarceration, Brindi has never bitten anybody, staff or stranger, at the pound. They say she is allowed to walk around too and obeys all the obedience commands her owner taught her. It's possible she was even loose at the time of this other attack, who knows? Such a dangerous dog!

How many people were taken to hospital on a gurney with an IV bag after Brindi attacked a dog? None. Are there any photos of injuries she caused? No. But that guy looks like he's really in pain! Yet the SPCA claims Brindi's owner is too irresponsible to have her own dog back - the one they love and say is so obedient! We think even an idiot could own Brindi and as long as they had a fence, everything would be fine. So we can't quite make the leap they'd like us to. And after today's interesting development, we suggest they all sit down and give it a little more thought. The rest of us can draw our own conclusions.

However, for the sake of Brindi's health, and the health of all of the animals there, what about the pest control being done? Exactly what kind of poisonous chemicals are these dogs being exposed to?? Were the dogs' feet protected from the spray? And what kinds of pests have infested the building?