Board Of Health Reviews Dangerous Animal Declaration For Rottweiler/Mix Named Bear – 2023 Marks The Highest Number Of Dangerous Animal Declarations In The City Over The Last 10 Years

The Board of Health met 12/13/2023. One of the items they received as an information item was the Dangerous Animal Declaration pertaining to Bear a male Rottweiler/Mix dog.

It was a brief discussion so I have not included a transcript.

This dog engaged in an unprovoked attack against another dog which led to the other dog needing 23 staples to close the wounds Bear left on his neck. As a result, Bear was declared to be a dangerous animal and its owners were required to comply with the requirements laid out in Section 3-132 of the City’s Municipal Code pertaining to dangerous animals within the borders of the City of Appleton. Those requirements include:

• Registering the animal with the Police Department
• Keeping it securely confined either indoors or in a securely enclosed and locked pen or kennel.
• Keeping it leashed and muzzled when it is outside of its dwelling, kennel, or pen
• Not allowing it to go outside unless it is muzzled and someone who is at least 16 years old and capable of controlling the dog is in physical control of its leash or is physically present if the animal is chained to an immoveable object
• Posting dangerous animal signs on the property
• Spaying and neutering the dog
• Acquiring and providing proof of liability insurance in the amount of no less than $1 million

In this specific case, the dangerous animal declaration was not contested by either John or Kristin, the owners. Health Officer Charles Sepers said that he expected that they would either comply with the orders or move the animal outside of the city of Appleton.

Health Officer Sepers also noted that the Health Department had been working with the Animal Welfare Community Support Officer Unit to improve the processes related to animal bites. In the past, there had been a lag in the Health Department getting information on bites, so they have no launched a new process to speed that up which will allow the Health Department to reach out more quickly to people who have been bitten and exposed to rabies.

[I will say, unrelated to this case specifically, Appleton seems to have had a marked uptick in the number of dangerous animal cases this year. There have been 5 such cases this year. A quick search of past Board of Health agendas indicates that there were no dangerous animal declarations during 2020 or 2021 and only 1 in 2022. There were 2 in 2019, 0 in 2018, 2 in 2017, 2 in 2015, 0 in 2014, and 1 in 2013. 2016 would seem to be the last year that Appleton saw similar numbers to this year when 4 such declarations came before the Board of Health. It seems like we have a lot of irresponsible dog owners this year with a lot of badly behaving, dangerous animals.]

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1135314&GUID=741AD0F4-B490-49B6-B630-864EC0F149A2