The Board of Health met 08/10/2022. The video from that meeting has not been posted which is disappointing because it looked like it was an interesting meeting.
The Board was asked to make a final decision on a Dangerous Animal Declaration. Kylo, a German Shephard, was engaged in two unprovoked attacks against three children.
In the first attack, “Kylo bit the child three times. Once on the hand. Once on the Arm, leaving a mouth sized abrasion on the arm, and once on the child’s buttock, leaving multiple abrasions.” In the second attack he injured two children causing scratch marks on one child and deep puncture wounds on the other.
The dog’s owner appealed Kylo’s designation as a dangerous animal stating that “while there were incidents that attacks took place, the injuries were unintentional and non aggressive injuries.” She said that they were working with a trainer and submitted a letter indicating that the dog was an emotional support animal.
Additionally, it appears the mothers of all three of the children who were attacked submitted letters on Kylo’s behalf. The mother of the two children who were attacked in the second attack indicated that the injuries to her children were minimal and asked that Kylo not be labelled as a dangerous animal.
The mother of the child hurt in the first incident explained what happened during the incident and said “He is a loving dog and have not had any other problems! My daughter still loves Kylo and pets him when she sees him. I believe he is young and with his training he will be just fine!”
Images of some of the wounds were submitted as evidence.
The Board of Health eventually voted to uphold the Dangerous Animal Declaration with board members Cathy Spears, Kathleen Fuchs, Deborah Werth, and Lee Vogel voting in favor and Alderpersons Vered Meltzer (District 2) and Denise Fenton (District 6) voting against it.
Although Kylo has been declared a dangerous animal, that does not mean he needs to be put down. His owner simply needs to follow the city regulations regarding the care and control of dangerous animals which includes amongst a number of requirements registering it with the police department, keeping it leashed and muzzled when outside its dwelling, kennel, or pen, keeping it confined indoors or in a securely enclosed and locked pen or kennel when not leashed and muzzled, spaying or neutering it, and maintaining liability insurance of not less than $1 million for any personal injuries inflected by the dangerous animal.
[I’m honestly super disappointed that the video for this meeting is not available. I love a good courtroom drama, and this seemed right down that alley along with variance requests and license revocations, but, alas, it seems it was not meant to be.]
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=991412&GUID=014C1ADF-5904-47BF-B2DC-4B8A2D01EB05
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