Pasadena’s Code Enforcement Commission will hear an appeal from the owners of four boxer dogs that have been determined to have attacked and injured at least two residents, and caused severe injuries on another dog that later died subsequent to the attack.
An investigating panel formed by the Code Enforcement Commission has heard and seen extensive evidence from Pasadena Humane’s animal control officer and has also heard from the dog owners and witnesses to the attack that occurred on the morning of Oct. 14.
A report by the panel said the owners were in violation of at least three provisions in the Pasadena Municipal Code for not obtaining licenses for two of the dogs involved in the incident and allowing them to run without a leash, or at large, and for harboring vicious dogs within the city.
Records of the investigation showed the four boxers “carried out a vicious and unprovoked attack” on a woman and her dog outside their residence along Chester Avenue that morning, and when a neighbor went out to help, she was also attacked. One of the owners attempted to restrain the dogs, the report continued, but two of the dogs slipped from the restraints and continued the attack.
A staff report for Thursday’s hearing said the commission “has received competent testimony” and after giving thoughtful consideration have determined that the dogs “are a public nuisance and a significant threat to public health, safety and welfare.”
The panel is recommending that the commission issue an order that the four dogs be euthanized, and the costs to be borne by Pasadena Humane.
An online hearing was conducted on Nov. 5 by the Code Enforcement Commission where two animal control officers from Pasadena Humane were invited to testify, and the owners were also given an opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The victims of the attack, including the woman whose dog died as a consequence of the attack, and the woman who attempted to stop the attack, were also given time to relate how the incident transpired.
At Thursday’s hearing on the owners’ appeal, the commission will allow the owner to present any evidence that may have been previously unavailable in the past hearings, and to provide any circumstance that would show the panel may have erred in drafting the recommendation to euthanize the four dogs.
The commission will also review the record of the decision before finalizing it.
Members of the public may be able to access the hearing through https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85831178772.
Comments may be submitted in advance to vcastillo@cityofpasadena.net, or through www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/code-enforcement-commission.