Dog that attacked Frazee woman removed from town

By Robert Williams

Editor

Dangerous dogs remained a hot topic during the open forum of the Frazee City Council meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 28.

Jane Young, a recent victim of a pitbull attack in her own yard, along with a sizable group of residents spoke on more enforcement via city ordinance to combat the loose dog problem in town, especially those involving threatening canines.

Young was at Wednesday’s meeting for a status update on the dog that attacked her. While weeding her flower garden, she suffered scratches and a black eye, a puncture, and injuries to her arm that required seven stitches and six in one hand. Young was spared further injury by wearing gloves while she was weeding that protected her.

The home has been approached by law enforcement. There is a dog in the house, but it is unknown whether it is the same dog, according to Police Chief Tyler Trieglaff.

The owner has not appealed the ruling of the dog being deemed dangerous. The owner also had 14 days to comply with ordinance demands of sterilization, extra insurance, an annual registration fee, and microchipping. That two-week span is up as of Friday, Aug. 29.

The ordinance allows the city to impound the dog after the deadline. That has not been done before, according to Trieglaff.

If the dog remains in the house after the deadline, a misdemeanor citation can be issued each day until the owner and dog are under compliance. To impound the dog, the police would need a search warrant.

Mayor Sharp stated the owner has the option to voluntarily surrender the dog. If not, City Attorney Thomas Winters will retain the search warrant or administrative order to confiscate the dog.

The owner has not responded to police attempts to make contact. The dog has not been seen loose since the incident. 

The home is a rental property and questions were brought up on landlord responsibility, fines, especially given that this particular dog was not registered with the city.

Heather Perrine, a landlord in Frazee, stated she would expect some kind of fine as a landlord for not doing the due diligence with the renter that allowed this incident to happen.

Frazee’s rental ordinance does not require landlords to make sure tenants have registered their animals with the city, according to Sharp.

“The requirement to have dogs registered applies to everybody across the city, renters, landlords,” said Sharp. “Really, in this situation, with a dangerous dog designation, that ordinance is probably the best way to get a long-term resolution to this situation. Right now, we’re to the point where he has not appealed the dangerous dog’s designation and is not going to comply with the other requirements. We simply impound the dog and then there is a matter of days and the dog can be destroyed. We just have to follow through on our ordinance.”

Dog registration, or the lack thereof, is a common problem in Frazee. According to Trieglaff, there are approximately 400 dogs in Frazee and roughly 50 are registered.

Young called for more enforcement from the police and follow through on non-registered animals. She reported another loose dog threatening people in her neighborhood.

“Today would be a good day to start,” said Young.

She also stated that in talking with others who have reported dogs to the city that they are not taken seriously and/or nothing is being done about it.

“That is not the sentiment of council,” said Sharp.

On Tuesday, the Planning & Zoning Committee discussed strengthening the dangerous dog ordinance.

Sharp cited what has been done in the city of Hugo. Once a dog is deemed dangerous the dog is immediately confiscated and it is not allowed back in town. It has to be euthanized or brought out of town. 

“It’s simply not going to be let back in town, which is different than our ordinance right now, which allows owners to keep their dangerous dog, but they have to follow a whole bunch of requirements,” said Sharp. “The sentiment I’ve heard around town is residents are not interested in dangerous dogs.”

Perrine also commented on the need for loose dog enforcement with all the trails that are meeting in Frazee.

Council member Andrea Froeber assured Young that committees and the council are working on stricter enforcement of the ordinance and dangerous dogs, in particular.

Editor’s note: As of Friday, Aug. 30 the dog in question has been removed from the city limits, per the city ordinance. The owner is aware of the ramifications if it returns, according to Chief Trieglaff.