It’s been a rough few months for Macon County pet owners.
Last July, Franklin residents reported three separate instances of unattended dogs attacking people on public property. Franklin Town Council heard multiple calls over the next few months to enforce a leash law within town limits and be more proactive in preventing dog attacks.
The town responded with sympathy to the incidents but considered them an unfortunate chain of isolated incidents. Mayor Bob Scott said that the town follows the county’s ordinance and that until that one bad month, they had experienced no major problems with it.
“We fall under the county ordinance, and we feel it’s well written,” Scott said. “There are no easy answers, but we do our best to abide by the county policy.”
Following state statute
Macon County’s animal control policy on dangerous dogs is based on N.C. General Statute Chapter 67 Article 1A. This statute defines a “dangerous dog” as “a dog that without provocation has killed or inflicted severe injury on a person; or is determined by the person or board designated by the county or municipal authority responsible for animal control to be potentially dangerous; or any dog owned or harbored primarily or in part for the purpose of dog fighting, or any dog trained for dog fighting”.
A “potentially dangerous dog” expands the definition to include more minor injuries, menacing behavior and attacks on other domestic animals off the owner’s property, but both definitions carry the same consequences. The policy does not penalize dogs that attack for purposes of law enforcement, hunting, herding, predator control, home security or self-defense.
New year, new incidents
There weren’t any other high-profile dog attacks in the Franklin area for the rest of 2019, and it looked like the leash law debate might fade away with the new year. That changed on Jan. 6 when Franklin resident Eric Haggart got a call from a neighbor informing him that a dog had gotten into his family’s back yard and was killing their pet chickens. Of his 36 chickens, only 18 survived the attack.
Haggart addressed the Macon County Board of Commissioners later that month to demand that the county get tougher on dangerous dogs. He said that the owner of the dog that killed his chickens had already had multiple dogs taken away. He said that every pet in the county was at undue risk until policies got tougher.
Haggart’s incident renewed demands from local residents for more proactive animal control.
Narelle Kirkland addressed the commissioners about an incident in which she was injured by an unleashed dog while riding her bike on the greenway.
“I own pets, but if I bring them to the public arena, they are on a leash,” Kirkland said. “It’s important that we remember to be courteous and thoughtful to each other.”
Haggart’s incident lines up with the part of the dangerous dog statute that considers a dog that has “killed or inflicted severe injury upon a domestic animal when not on the owner’s real property” potentially dangerous.
Disputed cases
However, not every incident is so cut and dried, and some pet owners object to the way they’re treated.
Jason Salmon appealed a ruling from Macon County Animal Control in January that declared his dog, Buck, potentially dangerous.
In a video recorded by FedEx driver Donna Martin’s dash camera, members of Macon County’s dangerous dog appeals board could see Buck bite Martin’s leg as she approached the house with a package.
Salmon said the dog did not attack until Martin came onto his property, something he had instructed all delivery drivers not to do. However, Buck did run past a gate sectioning off the driveway to get to Martin, and her injuries were bad enough to send her to the hospital, although she was able to finish her shift first.
“I finished what I was doing, I went to the hospital that evening and came back to work the next day,” Martin said. “I don’t want anything to happen to Buck, but I also didn’t want this to happen.”
Animal services officer Jason Brooks made the original ruling that Buck was potentially dangerous. He said that in addition to biting Martin, he had heard multiple complaints from neighbors about the dog wandering onto their property. During his own investigations into those claims, he felt that Buck displayed a hostile attitude to visitors.
“If the dog was running loose, I would not approach the property myself,” Brooks said. “The times that I’ve been on the property with the dog chained up, it’s been very aggressive.”
The appeals board members affirmed Brooks’ ruling that the dog was potentially dangerous. A dangerous or potentially dangerous dog must be kept either indoors on private property or on a leash and muzzle in public at all times. An owner can be charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor for failing to meet these requirements or a Class 1 misdemeanor if such a failure results in serious injury. However, these dogs are never taken from their owners unless mandated by a court on a case-by-case basis.
Salmon was furious with the ruling due to the absence of an attorney present at the appeals meeting. He disputes the accounts presented at the hearing and said he intends to appeal the decision as far as he can.
‘Stuck with that law’
County attorney Chester Jones said that Macon doesn’t have the freedom to rewrite its animal control tactics.
“State law governs what is or is not a potentially dangerous dog, as well as what is or is not a dangerous dog,” Jones said. “The county is not in a position to change that. We’re stuck with that law.”
Leash laws do fall under local jurisdiction and will likely continue to be a topic of controversy. In the meantime, Kathy McGaha, public information officer for the Macon County Department of Public Health, said the best thing residents can do is to be overly cautious with strange dogs. She says that there is no completely accurate way to know if a dog is dangerous, so when there’s any doubt at all, it’s best to avoid engaging.
“The important thing to remember is that any dog can be dangerous and any dog can bite,” McGaha said.