Dog didn’t have to die, says family

LIHUE — Trisha Pratt describes Bulla as a family member.

Loving, quiet, the pit bull was a friendly companion after he was brought into Pratt’s house about a year ago.

The family bought the dog to breed him with their female dogs, but Bulla was the only inside dog out of the lot.

He slept by the family’s side, they said, and even accompanied Pratt’s 10-year-old son inside the bathroom when the boy showered.

“That’s what’s really bothering me,” Pratt said. “He wasn’t a bad dog at all. He was the friendliest.”

The 3-year-old pit bull was euthanized March 9 at the Kauai Humane Society two hours after it attacked a neighbor’s Chihuahua mix dog that Sunday morning.

Pratt surrendered the family dog when KHS officers arrived at her Laukona Street home on the 5200 block in Hanamaulu following the attack, which sent the small dog to the vet with lacerations around its neck.

Pratt surrendered the dog knowing it would be put down once she handed it over.

“The first thing I asked him was, ‘Does he have to be euthanized?’” Pratt said. “I didn’t think I had a choice.”

It’s a decision she and her husband, Malachi Araneta, regret. Had they known about their options, they would have chosen differently. But the couple said KHS officers didn’t inform them of their choices after the attack.

“Come to find out, (Bulla) would have had a chance had (the officer) disclosed to me what I could have done,” Pratt said.

It was KHS’s right to put the dog it deemed dangerous down once it was surrendered to them — that’s spelled out in the nonprofit’s surrender and stray bylaws.

But the family didn’t have to surrender it. It could have fought the dangerous dog citation through court and let a judge decide Bulla’s fate.

“I didn’t know any of that,” Pratt said.

Now, it wants financial compensation from the nonprofit. KHS offered the family a dog from its shelter, or surgery and vaccinations at no cost if the family gets another dog.

But the family says that’s not enough. Pratt said they’re prepared to file a civil suit for damages.

“How can you offer me some stray dog?” Pratt said. “My husband wants some sort of compensation. I think it’s unfair, my husband thinks it’s unfair.”

But KHS said it won’t compensate the family beyond that.

KHS Executive Director Penny Cistaro said the KHS officer, Mana Brown, was under the impression that Pratt wanted to surrender the dog. Brown, who declined to comment for the story, told Cistaro that neighbors informed him their dog had been attacked by Bulla once before, and when Brown went to Pratt’s house, she offered to surrender the dog, and signed the paperwork to do so.

There are “conflicting statements from the neighbors and Trisha,” Cistaro wrote in an email.

“Based on her statements to Mana upon his arrival, Mana worked under impression that she wanted to surrender the dog because the dog attacked another animal,” she wrote. “He did not believe she wanted options.”

Cistaro didn’t say whether the nonprofit was allowed to financially compensate a grieved pet owner, but the agency considers many variables when dealing with people and their animals.

“Each situation is taken on an individual basis and what may happen in one case will be different from the next,” she said.

The dog attack occurred around 9 a.m. After the dog was surrendered, it was euthanized by about 11 a.m. Cistaro said it’s not unusual for KHS to put down dogs it deems aggressive or sick or injured beyond repair, quickly.

Aggressive dogs aren’t candidates for adoption, so there’s little incentive to keep them around the shelter.

“We would be remiss if we provided aggressive animals to the public for adoption,” Cistaro wrote. “We cannot place an animal into the community that is also a public threat. Once an animal is surrendered, if we know we are going to euthanize, we do not hold him unless there is a specific reason to hold.”

KHS euthanized 2,915 animals last year, and around 1,000 dogs each of the last couple of years.

Had the family not surrendered the dog, they still would have been cited for having a dangerous dog. Officers would have to impound the animal — KHS charges $12 a day — until the court process was settled. Homes with dangerous dogs are required to secure a $50,000 insurance policy, while dangerous dogs fines can cost hundreds of dollars. A judge can order an animal euthanized. Cistaro estimated the agency issued less than 10 dangerous dog tickets last year.

But that’s the process Pratt said she would have went through. She said the family spent $1,500 on the dog when they bought it from friends.

Pit bulls account for the most recorded attacks per dog breed in the U.S. and Canada, according to multiple reports.

Merritt Clifton, editor of “Animal People” publication, compiled a list of dog attacks reported from 1982 to the end of 2013. It said pit bulls had 2,792 attacks, 263 of which ended in deaths. The second-highest breed, rottweilers, had 514 attacks.

Pratt said the dog hadn’t attacked her neighbor’s dog before and KHS said it hadn’t responded to Pratt’s house before. Pratt’s neighbor declined to comment for the story, although their Chihuahua was at home a few days after the attack.

Pratt, who was looking for attorneys late last week, misses her dog.

“I’m not an emotional person at all,” she said. “But I’m having a really hard time.”