By Gus Saltonstall
A large, emotional crowd gathered Wednesday afternoon at an Upper West Side community center to demand action against the accused owners of two pit bulls that viciously attacked Penny, a 10-year-old chihuahua, over the weekend on Columbus Avenue at West 85th Street.
The attendees of the town hall organized by City Councilmember Gale Brewer were left disappointed, though; the dogs videotaped attacking Penny will stay in the custody of their owners for the time being due to the current laws that would cover the dog-on-dog incident, according to Brewer, members of the New York Police Department, and a representative from the New York City Department of Health.
Brewer, who spoke first, called the recent attack a “horror” and also expressed her frustration with the city’s legal system, which defines dogs as property, meaning the attack is not considered a criminal matter to be taken up by the NYPD — though a civil lawsuit could be filed.
“We don’t have the outcome we all want right now,” Brewer said.
The UWS elected official said her first goal is to help pass a law that would make such attacks a criminal matter. Brewer mentioned that Upper West Side Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal had already introduced a bill on the issue.
Rosenthal’s bill would alter a section of state law containing animal cruelty crimes by reclassifying animals as “sentient beings,” not as property, allowing them to be considered as victims of crimes.
Brewer said her second goal was to get the dogs that attacked Penny, who was released from the hospital on Tuesday, off the streets.
“There are not easy answers to this issue,” Brewer told the crowd before handing off the microphone to NYPD members and city officials. “They are going to tell you what they can or cannot do given the way the law is currently written.”
The first to speak was an NYPD representative from the Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad.
“Unfortunately, the outcome doesn’t always indicate the number of hours that are put into investigations, and were put into this,” the representative said to the crowd. “We have put together information [about the attack on Penny] and presented it to the District Attorney’s Office.”
A representative from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed during the meeting that the office has opened an investigation into the attack, focusing on allegations that the owner of the two pit bulls pushed another person who was trying to stop the attack, and that after one dog attacked the chihuahua, the owner may have allowed the second one to join in.
As for whether the dogs would be taken away from the owner, a city Department of Health official told the town hall meeting that, while the agency responds to dog bite complaints, it has no authority to enforce criminal sanctions. It’s “a very rare, lengthy, and arduous process to have someone’s pet removed,” he said.
Also in attendance was Lauren Claus, the co-owner of Penny.
“I love my dog more than my life,” Claus said to the crowd. “When we go to report something in a dog-on-dog attack, we need something that the police can do that day. This is a crime.”
Claus, along with other speakers, expressed frustration with the repeated messaging coming from officials.
Although officials noted they had no straightforward legal authority to take criminal action, Claus said she had hoped to create a paper record of the incident for the future. “I understand the need for a paper trail, and we really tried to do so, but they [NYPD officers] said there was nothing they can do when we went to the station,” Claus said. “We tried numerous times to get something filed, but weren’t able to.”
Also speaking was dog owner Lauren Block, who said that the same pit bulls attacked her two dogs in January in Central Park, which resulted in the death of her shih tzu, Grover.
“His dog tore my dog apart as people screamed and cursed,” Block said, prompting gasps throughout the room.
Brewer had previously mentioned she believes the same two dogs that attacked Penny fatally attacked a different dog earlier this year in Central Park.
Throughout the meeting frustration continued to grow over the lack of laws surrounding dog-on-dog attacks.
“You’ll file a report if someone slashes my tires, but not if my dog gets killed by another dog?” a crowd member called out at one point.
The meeting ended after around 90 minutes, following more statements and questions from the audience.
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