4949shooter
08-29-2008, 18:42
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20080828&Category=COMMUNITIES21&ArtNo=808280320&Ref=AR
JEFFERSON -- The owner of a Rottweiler that killed a black bear cub this week, two months after killing a neighborhood dog, is the subject of charges filed Wednesday by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Teri Daubner, 38, who lives in the Lake Stockholm section of the township, was charged in township municipal court with improperly sheltering her dog and with indirectly causing the death of an animal.
Richard Yocum, a township councilman and a lieutenant with the SPCA's enforcement division, said an investigation into the Tuesday morning killing of the bear cub indicated that the 5-year-old Rottweiler, named Max, was not properly restrained.
"Because this has happened before, and because the owner knows this is an aggressive animal, she should have restrained him," Yocum said. "Allowing the dog to bolt free is not responsible."
Daubner said she was getting water for Max on Tuesday morning when he got out of an outdoor pen, then ran to the front of the house and attacked a bear cub that wandered onto Daubner's driveway. Max, who weighs 120 pounds, was able to get out even though the door to his pen had been locked with a chain, she said.
"He's pure muscle," she said. "He pushed the door open."
She said she had built a backyard pen for Max after he caused the death of a neighborhood dog two months ago. She said she paid more than $2,000 in fines after pleading guilty to charges the SPCA had filed in municipal court following that incident.
Told on Wednesday that the SPCA had once again filed charges against her, she limited her comments, saying she intended to contact an attorney about the matter.
"I hope they contact me if they're filing charges against me," she said of the SPCA. "Since when does the SPCA have jurisdiction over a wild animal?"
She has said her dog never left her property and that he was doing what dogs do, being protective of his owner.
Yocum said the SPCA wasn't planning to ask a municipal judge to take Max away from his owner but wanted Daubner to address issues surrounding her dog and to have Max trained. He said the SPCA plans to ask for a court order requiring Max to wear a muzzle whenever he is moved around the property.
Daubner has said Max wears a muzzle whenever she takes him for walks.
Daubner said on Tuesday that she feared municipal officials would deem her dog to be a danger and take actions against him. Yocum said he did not know whether the township planned independent action. The township's animal control officer and prosecutor did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Daubner described the killing of the bear cub, saying Max dragged it into the backyard while she tried to get him to let go. She said the mother bear showed up a couple of hours later and dragged the cub's body into the woods. Authorities said the cub weighed about 50 pounds and appeared to have been born this year.
Yocum said SPCA officials planned to look for the cub's body Wednesday.
Lt. Eric Wilsusen, a Jefferson police spokesman, said police contacted the DEP about the incident Tuesday and expected them to remove the cub's body. DEP spokeswoman Darlene Yuhas said police had been given permission to remove the cub.
Previous incidents
Wilsusen said Jefferson police previously investigated a report that Max attacked a neighborhood dog on July 3. In that incident, according to a police report, Max snapped a chain that had been restraining him, ran into the street and attacked an American Eskimo Dog being walked by its owner. The attack caused numerous lacerations and extensive bleeding, Wilsusen said, and the dog later died at an animal hospital.
SPCA authorities previously identified the dead dog as a Husky.
Neighbors told police at the time that Max had been an "ongoing problem," Wilsusen said. He added that police had no record of other reports being made about the Rottweiler.
However, on Tuesday, Christina Sherwood, a next-door neighbor, said she had called authorities to complain about incidents that occurred a couple of years ago. She said Max once nipped her on the behind and the dog, though on a leash, once came onto her property and intimidated her and her children by barking at them. Sherwood has since put up a fence.
JEFFERSON -- The owner of a Rottweiler that killed a black bear cub this week, two months after killing a neighborhood dog, is the subject of charges filed Wednesday by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Teri Daubner, 38, who lives in the Lake Stockholm section of the township, was charged in township municipal court with improperly sheltering her dog and with indirectly causing the death of an animal.
Richard Yocum, a township councilman and a lieutenant with the SPCA's enforcement division, said an investigation into the Tuesday morning killing of the bear cub indicated that the 5-year-old Rottweiler, named Max, was not properly restrained.
"Because this has happened before, and because the owner knows this is an aggressive animal, she should have restrained him," Yocum said. "Allowing the dog to bolt free is not responsible."
Daubner said she was getting water for Max on Tuesday morning when he got out of an outdoor pen, then ran to the front of the house and attacked a bear cub that wandered onto Daubner's driveway. Max, who weighs 120 pounds, was able to get out even though the door to his pen had been locked with a chain, she said.
"He's pure muscle," she said. "He pushed the door open."
She said she had built a backyard pen for Max after he caused the death of a neighborhood dog two months ago. She said she paid more than $2,000 in fines after pleading guilty to charges the SPCA had filed in municipal court following that incident.
Told on Wednesday that the SPCA had once again filed charges against her, she limited her comments, saying she intended to contact an attorney about the matter.
"I hope they contact me if they're filing charges against me," she said of the SPCA. "Since when does the SPCA have jurisdiction over a wild animal?"
She has said her dog never left her property and that he was doing what dogs do, being protective of his owner.
Yocum said the SPCA wasn't planning to ask a municipal judge to take Max away from his owner but wanted Daubner to address issues surrounding her dog and to have Max trained. He said the SPCA plans to ask for a court order requiring Max to wear a muzzle whenever he is moved around the property.
Daubner has said Max wears a muzzle whenever she takes him for walks.
Daubner said on Tuesday that she feared municipal officials would deem her dog to be a danger and take actions against him. Yocum said he did not know whether the township planned independent action. The township's animal control officer and prosecutor did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Daubner described the killing of the bear cub, saying Max dragged it into the backyard while she tried to get him to let go. She said the mother bear showed up a couple of hours later and dragged the cub's body into the woods. Authorities said the cub weighed about 50 pounds and appeared to have been born this year.
Yocum said SPCA officials planned to look for the cub's body Wednesday.
Lt. Eric Wilsusen, a Jefferson police spokesman, said police contacted the DEP about the incident Tuesday and expected them to remove the cub's body. DEP spokeswoman Darlene Yuhas said police had been given permission to remove the cub.
Previous incidents
Wilsusen said Jefferson police previously investigated a report that Max attacked a neighborhood dog on July 3. In that incident, according to a police report, Max snapped a chain that had been restraining him, ran into the street and attacked an American Eskimo Dog being walked by its owner. The attack caused numerous lacerations and extensive bleeding, Wilsusen said, and the dog later died at an animal hospital.
SPCA authorities previously identified the dead dog as a Husky.
Neighbors told police at the time that Max had been an "ongoing problem," Wilsusen said. He added that police had no record of other reports being made about the Rottweiler.
However, on Tuesday, Christina Sherwood, a next-door neighbor, said she had called authorities to complain about incidents that occurred a couple of years ago. She said Max once nipped her on the behind and the dog, though on a leash, once came onto her property and intimidated her and her children by barking at them. Sherwood has since put up a fence.
