Villas Man Fined in Dog Attacks

ERMA — A Villas resident was fined $1,025 in Lower Township Municipal Court June 3 for having two unlicensed dogs, letting them run loose and for the dogs causing injuries to another domestic animal.
According to Lower Township Animal Control Officer Don Montgomery, on May 1, Edward Brunell’s two dogs, a Border Collie and a pit bull mix, escaped from their yard on East Miami Avenue and attacked a woman, her father and her dog, a Doberman which had part of his ear bitten off and suffered bites on its throat, ears and legs.
The Doberman is expected to recover from its wounds. Montgomery said the Border Collie attempted to bite him.
He said Brunell was cited for having two potentially dangerous dogs initially but one charge was dropped because the Border Collie will be euthanised.
Montgomery said he quarantined the two dogs that were involved in the attack at the county Animal Shelter. Brunell was also ordered to pay veterinary bills for the injured Doberman.
Brunell intends to keep the pit bull mix which will fall under the township’s potentially dangerous dog ordinance, said Montgomery. That will require Brunell to install a concrete slab with a six-foot high chain link fence with a lock and a sign warning of a potentially dangerous dog. The sign must be large enough to be read 50 feet away from the property.
The dog must be muzzled at all time when it is outside the enclosure and kept on a three-foot long leash. Montgomery said the dog must have an identifying tattoo and wear a red collar stat-ing it is a potentially dangerous dog.
While the fee to purchase a yearly license for an un-neutered dog is $7.20, the annual fee to license a potentially dangerous dog is $700 per year. A property owner with a potentially dangerous dog is also subject to an increase in their homeowner’s insurance.
“Lower Township is not going to tolerate any dogs running loose and any aggressive dogs,” said Montgomery. “We need to make the streets safe for people who do the right thing.”
He said he is grateful for the assistance of Lower Township police and their dispatchers in dog attack calls.
Montgomery said the injured Doberman returned to the scene of the attack, found the piece of its ear that was bitten off and brought it back to its owner’s home.