Janice Manning, of Rockholds, suffered this gruesome wound to her leg after being attacked by a neighbor’s pit bull in March.
Criminal charges against the owners of a pit bull that attacked a Whitley County woman in March appear imminent, and one county official says the issue of aggressive dogs running loose is being taken seriously.
Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. said he’s contacted the county’s animal control officer, Wayne Perkins, regarding the incident, which happened on March 24 on Tye’s Ferry Road.
“After I read about it in the paper [News Journal], I contacted him and told him that he needed to follow up on it,” White said. “That was the first I’d heard of it. I referred him to our County Attorney Bob Hammons and the Manning family. He’s been out on site as well where the attack happened.”
The victim of the bite, Janice Manning, was throwing a Frisbee with a young nephew in her yard at 830 Tye’s Ferry Road when she was bitten by the pit bull. White said from what officials have learned, the Frisbee went over into the neighbors yard. When they threw it back, the dog followed it and then attacked.
The 10-month-old pit bull weighs about 60 pounds.
Jannice Manning’s husband, Conley Manning, said in last week’s News Journal that he’s contacted animal control several times about the dog.
"We’ve had the dog warden here several times because the dog is running loose but he won’t do anything about it. He said there wasn’t anything he could do. I’d just have to shoot it," Manning said.
He also said he sent a note to the Whitley County Judge-Executive’s office about the issue, but hadn’t received any response.
White said that according to county records, the last time Manning called for an animal control officer was in September 2011. He added he hadn’t received any letters from Manning that he knew about. Perkins said he had not responded to any complaints about this particular pit bull.
“I haven’t been up there about that one,” Perkins said. “This dog’s grandpa wasn’t even alive the last complaint we got up there.”
White said, in any event, county officials take dog bites seriously and planned to take action. Janice Manning’s injury from the dog was serious. About a four-inch diameter portion of skin on her right calf was ripped off. She plans to see a plastic surgeon once the wound heals.
“We are taking action to address it,” White said. “We’ve got a meeting with Bob Hammons about the issue. That’s in the works now.”
Hammons confirmed last week that he issued a criminal summons for the dog’s owner, Tonya Bell, to appear in court on charges of harboring a vicious animal. The charge carries with it possible penalties that include jail time, fines and requirements that the dog be kept an area with high enclosures to prevent it escaping.
“When you are dealing with dogs bred to fight, like a pit bull, they need to be held to a higher standard because they are equipped to do such damage to people if they attack, that’s my personal opinion on the matter,” White said. “Unfortunately, the [law] in Kentucky makes it sort of difficult because really what it says to happen is that animal control officers and law enforcement are supposed to shoot them. The public doesn’t tolerate that very well. I don’t have a good stomach for that and the animal control officer doesn’t like that,” White said. “I think the more appropriate thing to do is to try to refer things to district court. That’s the process we are going to follow.”
Perkins said the dog has undergone the Whitley County Health Department’s quarantine procedures for rabies and is currently being kept inside Bell’s home.
“We are just in preventative mode now to make sure nothing else happens,” Perkins said. “People think their dogs will never cause any trouble, and then the next day they are eating their next-door neighbor’s grandma.”
