SAN ANTONIO – About six months after rolling out a Dangerous Dog Registry, Animal Care Services officials say they’re planning to roll out an Aggressive Dog Registry.
It’ll look just like the dangerous registry, but these dogs have attacked or killed other animals, or there’s reason to believe they could hurt other animals or people.
Fredyne Springer’s dog was attacked in February. She says this could be a great resource for families and pet owners.
She was moving through her normal Wednesday morning routine when the attack happened: Take out the garbage, let her dog outside, and get ready for the day.
But moments after she let little George run out the front door, she heard his cries of panic. On video from her Ring doorbell, you see three dogs race across the yard toward George. Then, you hear him crying, clearly in distress.
“George, George come here!” Springer shouted from the porch.
Her dog could not get away.
“I was terrified,” Springer said. “When an animal is tortured, we all are tortured.”
Springer was finally able to get the dogs to drop George, leaving behind several bite wounds.
“The vet told me he may not survive,” Springer told us.
After George got stitches and began to recover, Springer learned that the dogs that attacked him had also injured several other animals in the area.
“We called the city, no response, no help whatsoever,” Springer said. “We called five or six times, I might have called even more times than that.”
Our cameras were there as ACS eventually came and picked up at least two of the dogs, but Springer believes they were returned to their owners.
“Were you informed about how to submit an aggressive dog affidavit after this happened?” Reporter Jordan Elder asked Springer.
“No, I was not, but I did get that information from you,” Springer responded.
San Antonio considers an “aggressive dog” one that attacks other animals, or there’s belief it could harm a human, either from its enclosure or if it gets loose.
Just like with dangerous dogs, you have to submit an affidavit so the city can investigate and determine if it meets their requirements.
That triggers consequences and guidelines for their owners.
Now, there will be a new way for you to see where aggressive dogs live.
ACS Assistant Director Brad Davenport says the agency will roll out a new resource.
“We’re going to continue the same idea and add it to our aggressive animals,” Davenport said. “We’ll be adding that this summer.”
The dangerous dog registry rolled out after our I-Team investigation.
We had to fight all the way to the Attorney General to get you access to where these animals were living.
Once we got those addresses, we plotted them on a map for you. Weeks after we launched that map, the city released their own.
So how would an aggressive dog registry impact you?
Springer says an aggressive dog registry will help her determine where she walks Georgie, and if there are certain dogs they need to watch out for in the neighborhood. She says it’ll also be helpful for families whose children play outdoors or walk to school.
But she’s also calling for more marketing about how to file the necessary affidavits.
“We definitely need that, we need more education,” Springer said.
But what about people who have trouble accessing the internet?
Raymond Najera lost his father in a brutal mauling last February. He’s calling for a more personal approach for people around these dogs.
“Sending out notices to all the residents within a two mile radius of the dangerous dog,” Najera said.
For right now, ACS says that’s not in the cards.
“In terms of notifying the public in a certain radius, we have not explored that avenue, it’s always something we can look at into in the future,” Davenport said.
Springer says its important that you report these incidents so aggressive dogs can be documented. It could help another family.
“They could lose an animal or have an animal injured,” Springer explained.
Here is the city’s definition of an aggressive dog and the levels of behavior.
Level 1 behavior is established if:
- A dog while in the enclosure in which the animal was being kept acts to cause a person to reasonably believe that the animal will engage in an unprovoked attack and cause bodily injury to that person.
- An unrestrained dog is found to menace, chase, display threatening or unprovoked aggressive behavior or otherwise threaten or endanger the safety of a domestic animal.
Level 2 behavior is established if:
- A dog, while unrestrained, causes physical injury to any domestic animal or livestock.
Level 3 behavior is established if:
- A dog, while unrestrained, kills or causes the death of any domestic animal or livestock.
- A dog classified as a level 2 aggressive dog that repeats the behavior in subsection (2) after the owner or keeper receives notice of the level 2 classification.
Aggressive Dog Requirements
There are 3 different levels of aggressive dog designations based on the circumstances of the attack.
The differing levels have time frame restrictions from 1 – 3 years and each includes:
- a license
- micro-chip
- secure enclosures
- proper restraints
- signage
- muzzle
If you want to report an aggressive dog, you can fill out this affidavit.
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