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Administrative judge upholds city's notice; dog to be euthanized after hearing
Summary
After a multi-hour administrative hearing following a dog bite of a 5-year-old, staff said an administrative law judge found the city had met its burden and agreed that the dog should be euthanized; the city will schedule euthanization "as soon as reasonably possible" per ordinance.
City staff informed council members that an administrative law judge upheld the city's notice of intent to euthanize a dog that had bitten multiple people, including a 5-year-old child.
"We served that notice on the owner. They objected and appealed that. And so this morning, we had a hearing with an administrative law judge to review the evidence and to go over that. It took about four hours," Speaker 16 said. Speaker 16 said the judge "agreed that the city had met our burden, showing that the animal did need to be euthanized." Speaker 16 added the ordinance directs euthanization "as soon as reasonably possible" once a written decision is issued.
Staff clarified the dog had been quarantined for rabies testing (which returned negative) and that the euthanization decision was based on the dog's repeated aggressive behavior and multiple bite incidents rather than a positive rabies result. No criminal charges were discussed at the council pre-meeting; Speaker 16 said the scope of the administrative hearing was narrow and focused on whether the dog met the ordinance standard for euthanasia.
