Board votes to spare Berkowitz’ dog

PALMER — The board deciding the fate of a sled dog that attacked a young girl last month again deadlocked 2-2 on Monday, putting the case back in the hands of Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation officers.

In its official decision read at its meeting Monday afternoon, the Animal Care and Regulation Board said that it “remands the animal Wizard to the chief animal care and regulation officer for further classification.”

“Classification” in this context refers to the five ranks that Mat-Su Borough code lays out for animals that attack people. Monday’s hearing had been to decide whether Wizard — a dog belonging to Iditarod veteran Jake Berkowitz — was a level five, a classification that would have led to the dog’s euthanasia.

The other four classifications are still open to the animal care chief. Level four would require the animal never go outside except in a “secure enclosure” or wearing a muzzle.

Monday’s hearing was likely not the end of the story. Both the borough and the Berkowtiz family have 30 days to file an appeal of the decision in state Superior Court.

As for why the board deadlocked, each member stated reasons.

“I believe this particular dog stands a high chance of attacking again,” said board member Dr. Sabrieta Holland, a veterinarian who voted in favor of euthanasia.

Board member Theresa Morache, who voted against euthanasia, noted that borough code allows for an exception to the level-five classification if the person attacked was “committing trespass or other tort on premises occupied by the owner.”

She said she believed that a 2-year-old girl visiting Berkowitz’s kennel while Berkowitz and his wife were out of town was trespassing.

“I do believe exceptions to classification do apply,” Morache said.

Board member Rhonda Weinrick, who joined Morache in voting against euthanasia, cited much the same reasoning, saying that the girl’s mother had permission to be there, but not to bring her children.

Board chair John Wood read out of pages of notes he’d made during his days spent thinking about the case.

He said he didn’t understand why the girl’s mother would have brought her there and said he thought it reasonable for Berkowitz to assume nobody would bring young children into a lot filled with more than 50 dogs.

He also added that he doesn’t believe the trespassing argument, saying that he knows of no such law in which a permitted visit to a property can turn into an act of trespassing when that person brings others with her.

But, he said, he believes Wizard needs to be put down. He noted that the animal didn’t break off its attack when the mother intervened, instead trying to pull the child away from her. He said that only tying the dog to a post stopped his attack.

“I call them rogue animals. There’s not a veterinarian in the world that can tell you why that happens,” he said. “But there’s no doubt that it does.”

He said that he believed the Berkowitz kennel, much to their misfortune and despite efforts to socialize Wizard, had a rogue dog on their hands.

Weinrick, at the end of the meeting, said she thought that it was wrong to blame either the Berkowitzes or the injured girl’s parents.

“In my mind it’s a sad accident that happened,” she said, later adding that, “if the dog were euthanized the child would not be unbitten.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.