Beaver Creek – At least one local citizen is still struggling to navigate changes in Cherokee County’s animal control ordinance following an attack by her neighbor's dogs.
On May 3, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners adopted a new animal control ordinance dealing almost solely with exotic pets. The ordinance is about two pages long and deals primarily with venomous reptiles, big cats, primates and other exotics.
“It is my understanding that the changes to the ordinance were minimal, requested by the sheriff, approved by the county attorney and made so that our ordinance confirmed to N.C. state animal control law, " said Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, chair of the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners.
In contrast, the previous animal control ordinance spanned 20 pages and was geared more toward various situations involving animals. Officials said the repeal of the previous ordinance also eliminated some language redundant with state law as well as language that would be difficult to enforce in court.
Sheriff Derrick Palmer said since there were no county laws on how to handle many animal situations, the sheriff's office often went by state statutes.
"In order for it to fall under the vicious dog statute, the dog has to be off of its own property or has to attack somebody, he said.
Palmer emphasized that a dog had to actually be involved in an incident before being deemed dangerous, as barking or growling alone were not enough to deem a dog dangerous.
"It can certainly be looked into, but it can't be called dangerous," he said. "The owner is certainly not required to keep it muzzled or put up unless it does something."
Bites with serious injuries
Only a week after the new ordinance was approved, 61-year-old Kimberly Dossett was attacked on May 11 by a pack of pit bulls owned by a neighbor, Johnny Foster, on Beaver Creek Road just outside Andrews. The dogs caused her serious injury, including lacerations and puncture wounds on her legs and other parts of her body.
Photographs, a bite report with the Cherokee County Health Department and documentation from Union General Hospital in Blairsville, Ga. confirmed Dossett’s injuries.
"I've got an area fenced in, but not the whole property," she said. "I've got some gardens, and those dogs would come down there and tear everything up."
Dossett said she talked with Foster regarding the dogs on multiple occasions, but to no avail.
Foster did not respond to a request for comment from the Cherokee Scout.
“I’m not the first person they bit, either,” she said. “I told (the sheriff’s office), ‘Y’all should’ve done something after that. Y’all should’ve deemed them dangerous then.”
A second bite report Dossett provided confirmed that two of Foster’s dogs, Runt and Saint, had bitten Roman Bailey as he walked down Beaver Creek Road on April 4. Following this incident, the dogs involved were confined from April 5-11.
Palmer said he declared four of the dogs dangerous, but Foster appealed the decision. However, the appellate board upheld the board’s decisions.
“We presented our investigative evidence to the board, statements of what the victim said and those kind of things,” he said. “The board made a decision on which dogs to declare dangerous.”
Appeals process
Four of the seven dogs on Foster’s property were declared dangerous.
“That’s why there may be multiple dogs mentioned in the situation,” Palmer said. “It’s the board’s decision on hearing all the evidence as to which dogs are the aggressors, which dogs are dangerous, which dogs were were following what the other dogs were doing, that type of thing.”
In an appeal, the owner of the animals and the sheriff both give their cases and accounts of the incident. The victim of the attack is allowed to attend, but their presence is not required. Palmer said Dossett did not attend the appeal.
“He filed for an appeal,” Palmer said. “He showed up through the appeal process and presented his evidence to the board. We presented our investigative evidence to the board, stamens and all those kinds of things and then the board made a decision on which dogs to declare dangerous.”
Palmer added that the dangerous dogs were required to remain on Foster’s property. He emphasized that the case would remain closed, unless one of the animals deemed dangerous was found off of Foster’s property or if one of his dogs was involved in another attack.
“That would be a misdemeanor charge if they were off the property and not muzzled,” he said. “If there’s a second offense, I believe it turns into a felony, but I believe the first offense is a misdemeanor.”
Palmer said he believes Dossett’s incident was the first since the new ordinance went into effect.
“People have a constitutional right not to be deprived of their property, and dogs are considered property,” he said. “To deprive someone of their property, you have to go through that court process and hearings and those kinds of things. We can’t just come in and deprive someone of their property.”
Animal control training
Palmer said the four dogs that had been deemed dangerous were on Foster’s property the times deputies checked. Palmer said the case had been handled by Deputy Rebekah Snyder, who has received training in animal control.
“I think (the board of commissioners is) very reluctant to put more restrictions in it,” he said.
Palmer said aAnimal incidents weren’t common enough for the change in the ordinance to have had a major effect on how the sheriff’s office handles them.
“I think this is only situation like this we’ve had,” he said. “It’s not like it’s an every-day or every-week occurrence that we’re dealing with dogs biting.”
Dossett expressed some criticism over the sheriff’s office’s handling of the situation, claiming she had seen the dogs involved in the attack off the property and unmuzzled. She also claimed deputies talked with her like she was the one in the wrong.
“The families are having to sit in the yard with guns and pepper spray and machetes,” Dossett said. “I moved here, and when I found this house it was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life. It’s not a swanky house or nothing else. …
“I know this sounds corny, but this was my lifelong dream. It meant my little dog could walk down the road, where an older woman gives me cuttings out of her yard. She told me about coming to this house when she was a little girl to play with the little girl who lived here.
“I was probably the happiest I’d been in my life. Those dogs have taken that away from me.”