Wasilla law change spares dog's life

WASILLA -- Bear the family dog has gotten a stay of execution.

The St. Bernard-malamute mix was placed on a sort of death row at the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Shelter last month after it attacked and killed a neighbor's cat in Wasilla. According to the borough and, until this week, city of Wasilla animal control ordinances, a dog that kills another animal is deemed to be "vicious," and is euthanized after it has been quarantined for rabies.

The Wasilla City Council felt this was too harsh of a sentence under the circumstances, however, and this week voted unanimously to alter the language of the city ordinance so an animal that kills another animal will be labeled as "dangerous" rather than "vicious." Based on the change, Bear was to be released to her owners the next day.

During the past three weeks since Bear was taken to the borough animal shelter, her owners visited her daily and worked to make the case public.

"I want to get my dog back," Todd Lewellyn told the Wasilla City Council this week. "She just did what dogs do."

Lewellyn said his 10-year-old daughter and a friend decided to wear Rollerblades while taking their dogs for a walk several weeks ago. Bear was on a leash and, when the dog saw the neighbor's cat and began to charge after it, the girl reportedly let go of the leash. The dog then bit the cat, shook it and killed it, Lewellyn said.

Lewellyn said the young dog had never done anything like this before and the owner of the dead cat also wanted Bear's life spared.

"This is the first offense for Bear, but because of the wording in the ordinance there is no room for sound judgment or common sense," Lewellyn recently wrote to the Frontiersman. Under the current wording, he reasoned, " … if your cat kills a mouse, it's considered vicious and should be put to sleep with no questions asked."

Council members, some of whom said they too have animals that would qualify as "vicious" under the old ordinances, did not feel this was reasonable.

"I don't think they should be put down … not the first time it happens," Councilman Ron Cox said.

Other speakers testifying at the meeting said the Mat-Su Borough's approach to these types of cases was not the norm. In other states and other parts of Alaska, municipalities and boroughs do not euthanize animals that kill other animals unless the victim was livestock.

Based on this week's ordinance change, an animal that kills another animal will be placed in a rabies quarantine and then released to the owner with certain conditions.

The animal will have to be registered and tattooed or microchipped with identification. While on the owner's property, the animal will have to be kept indoors or enclosed in a locked pen, with a sign on the premises identifying it as a "dangerous animal." Anytime it is off the property, the animal must be leashed and muzzled.

These conditions will remain with the animal regardless of who owns it.

Lewellyn said after the council's decision he was relieved and knew his daughter would also be glad to get the news.

"Any conditions of release are better than what we came in here with," Lewellyn said. "Bear had basically received a death sentence."

While the council seemed to agree that in Bear's case, death was too harsh a sentence, some members wondered how an animal that repeatedly kills other animals should be handled.

Several council members formed a special committee to review the city's animal control ordinances and those of Anchorage, where a different classification system is used. The council indicated it may make additional changes in the near future.