Dear Editor,
Consider the Extreme Care Doctrine
My wife and her dog, Daisy, were attacked by a pack of vicious dogs, as covered by this newspaper last week. The largest, lead dog, mauled our dog who was on a leash yet was bitten on nearly 50 percent of her body. It has been excruciating to watch our dear dog struggle to recuperated from such devastating wounds but I am so thankful to the Lord that He had his hand of protection on my wife. For the sake and safety of our citizens as they walk the streets of our town and for the children playing in their yards, I urge city leaders in Pratt to take actions that will prevent this from happening to anyone else. One only needs to look at the comments on Pratt Community Connections and Tri-County Tribune Facebook pages regarding this incident to see this in not a rare case! This is happening over and over again in our quiet neighborhoods.
My question is this: What should we as a community do about dog owners that are negligent in their care and keep of potentially vicious dogs? I have researched other communities and have found that many deal with this type of problem with the Extreme Care Doctrine.
The Extreme Care Doctrine states that a dangerous dog owner may practice extreme care in penning up their dog for 364 days of the year, but if he or she neglects to pen up that dog on one day and it attacks someone or something, the law is required to view that owner as being extremely negligent. The owner of the dog in question is, by law, totally liable for any damage and destruction done by that dog.
Last year, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a blind woman at the city’s Deaf and Blind School was viciously attacked by a dangerous dog. The woman was mauled so badly that she is still hospitalized a year after the incident. Authorities there applied the Extreme Care Doctrine in prosecuting the dog owner at his trial. The dog owner received a sentence of 1-3 years in prison on a charge of second degree assault.
For those who think this punishment is too severe, consider which is worse, being shot by a gun or being mauled by a vicious dog. Morbidly speaking, bullet wounds are localized and though horrible, can be treated. But consider the suffering that someone or, in the case of my dog, must endure to try to heal from an attack that includes crushed bones and mutilated flesh.
People with dangerous dogs often find themselves in situations in which they have lost control of their animals. These people are often our friends and neighbors. Our local police department should be eliminating these dangerous dogs from the situations they are in, rather than just patting people on the wrist and wishing that the situation had not happened.
As a community we can do better by enacting and enforcing laws that include negligent care and housing of dangerous dogs. We must address this problem before we have children or adults hurt as badly as our dog, Daisy, was near our home, in a quiet neighborhood of Pratt.
Larry Popovich
S. Pine Street, Pratt, Kansas
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