Pit Bull Killed my cat

[Rob Tucker]

A judgement is a judgment and produces a record which can be used in the event of future events with this owner and dog. It's not about the money. Lawyers aren't allowed in small claims court. It is simple and cheap.

[Seeb]

If you protect yourself in anyway don't be surprised if you're the one arrested or sued
because you shouldn't have been walking down that road or looking so tasty. And you caused the dog emotional distress by denying it a chew toy

[dragon2k]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rob Tucker

A judgement is a judgment and produces a record which can be used in the event of future events with this owner and dog. It's not about the money. Lawyers aren't allowed in small claims court. It is simple and cheap.

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Between the filing fee, process server fee, time off work, etc. Small claims doesn't seem cheap to me!

[Carey]

This is one of the big things here, how do you deal with these situations...

We had never experienced this anywhere we have lived before. We have one neighbor that feels it is very OK to shoot cats, even those that are in your own yard... it does not matter if the cats are on property of lifelong residents - those that complain have had odd things happen...nothing to directly pin on the neighbor, but many now have video surveillance, both because of the neighbors actions & lack of response by the police...not that I see any value in the video evidence here...but that is another thread....

I have found that the only solution is to have my cats as indoor only cats. It is odd that this is THE only solution, but after our first cat here was shot, and seeing multiple neighbors cats end up shot, I would rather deal with the indoor cat thing than the dead cat thing...

I imagine that dealing with a neighbor with a dog is even more complicated...as the neighbor is not actually doing anything (quite LITERALLY!), it is the dog that is doing it...If you search farther on this website for the thread on the attack in Leilani, you will find that even if the dog attacks a person here, not much is done...so I have no faith that anything will come of reporting a dog attacking a cat, when so little was done with dog attacks person...and have full faith that the neighbor would handle the complaint with retribution on you.... sorry, but that is what I have seen here..

[rainshadow]

This is the kind of thing that turns my stomach. I'm not normally a violent person, but that potential exists when these kind of @$$holes show up in my life.

Further vent: I hate the cops here; seriously, they suck and are completely useless

Really sorry about your cat, sorry about anyone who has gotten bitten. And sorry that the people and dogs responsible are still breathing.

Such a nice neighborhood.

-- rainshadow

[Rob Tucker]

quote:

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Between the filing fee, process server fee, time off work, etc. Small claims doesn't seem cheap to me!

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Cheapest thing is to do nothing and wait for it to happen again.... and then do nothing again. Personally I think dog owners need to be responsible for the control of their animals. Letting them walk away doesn't accomplish that. This owner knows what happened and should be approached about it.

[EightFingers]

Remember all this stuff when you vote....

[terracore]

As I understand it, the police do not enforce the animal control ordinances. The humane society has a contract with the county to provide animal control services. In exchange for the county’s money the humane society’s “humane officers” assume all responsibility of enforcement. If the humane society is not fulfilling their obligations, then they are in breach of their contract with the county (and payment could cease). If the humane society fails to fulfill their obligations to the county, then it is the police’s responsibility to respond.

This is a common way for municipalities to provide animal control services. Usually the way it works, is that the humane society gets lax in their enforcement because they are spending money that is supposed to be used on enforcement on animal welfare programs. Then the population start to complain to the police, then the police chief reminds the humane society director what they are really getting paid for, then enforcement gets better for a short while, then it becomes lax again. Then the cycle repeats.

In most municipalities unarmed, non-law enforcement humane officers are empowered to issue citations including up to class B misdemeanors, or whatever the equivalent charge is where the maximum jail sentence for the crime is up to 30 days. If the sentence can be longer than 30 days, then the police have to handle the case.

[birdmove]

I wrote about the pit bull attacking anyone in sight previously right after it happened. That's when my daughter was bit 4 times, I was attacked (but not bitten), and my neighbors were attacked and one was bitten all by the same dog on the same night within minutes. You may have read my original message about it.
I've had two cases where dogs came after me while riding my bicycle. One was when 4 dogs ran snarling after me all from the same yard WITH AN OPEN GATE. I was able to outrun them. Not bad for someone that will be 60 in a few months. Another time I was attacked by dog on the corner of Beach Road and Kaloli. I got off my bike and used it as a shield and kept it between me and the dog. A neighbor came out and was able to call the dog away. The owners were not home and left that dog out. I have ridden by there many times since and never seen the dog again. My daughter was bitten on 23rd while riding my bicycle when a dog gat through a hole in the fence and got her on the ankle. She called the police and 2 officers came. They took photos and then went to visit the owners showing them the bloody dog bite and putting some fear into them. They since put out some effort to plug the holes in their fences. For us, both police responses were reasonably quick and efficient. In view of these issues, I do not ride without a means of defending myself. I refuse to cower in my house afraid to walk or ride when and where I want. And if I see a vicious dog attacking your kid, or your grandparents out on their walk, I will not ignore it.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Carey]

Rob, please remember that a dog owner who will allow his dog to rip into a cat, while the owner of the cat & dog are there, is probably WELL aware of the actions of his dog & does not care... and it is truly possible that there is a very real chance that retribution actions would be taken on the one who was bitten (or cat was bitten) if they approach/report the dog owner.

If I honestly thought that ANYTHING other than a pissed off neighbor would happen by reporting this, I would advise it, but after this year, I doubt that our police would do anything, so most likely the neighbor would never know that you DID report...but on the off chance they alert the neighbor to the report... I really only see that the end result would be nothing happens or you have a pissed off irresponsible neighbor...

ADDED: the cases I am referring to are slightly different from Jons (right above), as these cases the owner is well that the dog attack is happening & does nothing...

I am only putting this up here, as it has happened in our area, in HPP, in Leilani, & Papiakou; and in each case, the pissed dog owner has made an already bad situation much worse...