Pit bulls’ fate to be decided

/Home/News/Pit Bull

By Kasey Fowler, Staff Writer

April 13, 2009 11:09 pm

— The owner of two pit bulls that attacked a woman and her 2-year-old daughter has signed his dogs over to Enid Animal Control.
The owner of a third dog in Saturday’s attack has an April 29 municipal court date, according to Enid Police Department Capt. Dean Grassino.
According to an EPD report, Mark Buchanan, 27, owner of two of the dogs, was cited two times each for animals running at large, dangerous animal and no city license. Darla Hill, 37, owner of the other dog, was cited with the same offenses.
According to Grassino, Buchanan signed his dogs over to the shelter.
“He signed his dogs over to the shelter. After 10 days, they will be euthanized,” Grassino said.
He said Hill has not signed her dog over. A court date is set for 2 p.m. April 29, and a judge will decide whether the dog is dangerous and what will happen to it.
According to the court clerk’s office, Buchanan and Hill face fines of $144 for failure to license an animal, $244 for an animal running at large and $544 for a dangerous or potentially dangerous animal.
The fines add up to $932 for Hill and $1,864 for Buchanan because two of his dogs were involved.
The dogs were impounded Saturday after they attacked Rhonda Morgan, 41, and her daughter.
According to police, Morgan was in her front yard in the 200 block of West State and saw two of the dogs charging at her daughter. She picked the girl up and bent at her waist to protect her.
The dogs attacked her and tried to get to the girl, according to the police report. Morgan kicked at the dogs, and they were joined by a third pit bull. Neighbors saw the incident and grabbed a rake and a shovel and came to help Morgan.
An Enid police car drove by and was flagged down by a neighbor, and the officer saw the incident and turned on lights and sirens to drive the dogs away. The dogs ran in different directions, but all three were recovered by animal control and were impounded.
Morgan was taken to Integris Bass Baptist Health Center and was treated for her injuries and released.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.