‘Definitely Needs to be Addressed’; Dog Bite Attacks Focus of Community Concerns

In the Miami Valley and around Ohio, there’s been more and more concerns about dogs attacking people, especially after an officer shot and killed a dog that bit a person.

News Center 7 has covered about a half dozen dog attacks this year, where some people got seriously injured.

Earlier this month, News Center 7 talked with a Hamilton County woman. Doctors had to wrap both her arms after dogs went after her.

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Last month, two dogs attacked and hurt two people in Springfield and killed another dog. Meanwhile, a day earlier, a Ring camera captured four dogs attacking a man in Dayton.

In Columbus, two dogs attacked a child near his home. On Sunday, officers were called to Meredith Drive in Dayton, where people said they’d seen several stray dogs.

News Center 7’s Malik Patterson was on Meredith Drive Sunday when he noticed two stray dogs roaming around. People who live in the area said it’s getting out of hand.

Barry Johnson, of Harrison Township, said, “So it definitely needs to be addressed.”

Johnson said a common story he hears pertains to stray dogs.

“Well, people get excited. They decide they want to buy an animal for companionship, but then when the dog becomes a maintenance issue, they just abandoned them,” Johnson said.

News Center 7 confirmed that Dayton Police and medics were called to the scene when a dog attacked someone. Patterson said he talked to several people in the area about the attack.

He was told people have seen at least three different strays in the area.

News Center 7 also went to the Animal Resource Center of Montgomery County and was told there are a total of 140,000 registered dogs in the county, but only a small percentage are considered strays.

Johnson said people are buying dogs they cannot fully take care of.

“I don’t know where they think they’re going to go if they just let them go, but it’s unsafe for the animal, and it’s unsafe for the community,” Johnson said.

Besides being unsafe, a dog bite can also be a health issue.

“If they have rabies or something like that, and if they bite somebody, it can be awful,” Johnson said. He said he wants the owners to receive citations.

“Sometimes you have to hit people in the pocket,” he said.

News Center 7 is working to learn the status of the person who was attacked. A Stray Dog Task Force has also been created to address the issue.

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