STRAY DOGS ATTACK, $1.14 MILLION FOR ANIMAL SERVICES

A stray dog put an Oak Cliff man in the hospital this summer. Polo Rodriguez was walking his dog when a stray approached. Rodriquez says he threw a newspaper at the dog in an effort to shoo it away, but it attacked, tearing into his arm and causing a wound that needed stitches.

That came two weeks after a brutal dog attack on a man in Winnetka Heights. Charlie Howell and Laura Stankosky were walking their dogs on Edgefield near Jefferson when a pit bull bounded toward them and attacked their German shepherd. Stankosky managed to get their leashed dogs away, but the loose dog continued to bite Howell’s hands and face. A neighbor called 911, and a paramedic fashioned a catchpole to subdue the dog.

The stray-dog situation in southern Dallas is out of control.

Recently, chronically underfunded Dallas Animal Services told City Council it needs a little more money. DAS is seeking $1.14 million more than they received last year, for a total budget of $10,094,518, to hire nine new employees, seven of whom would focus on southern Dallas.

The department runs a shelter with as many as 650 animals. It provides as many as 200 exams and vaccinations and 26 spay/ neuter surgeries a day. Employees field about 250 phone calls a day. And animal control officers answer about 50,000 service calls a year.

Despite the thousands of dogs sterilized in the Big Fix for Big D and a concerted effort to combat the problem over the past year, stray and loose dogs abound, especially in area codes 75216 and 75217, where more than a quarter of all of the city’s loose/straydog calls originate.

The department proposes doubling its staff, from nine to 18, adding seven employees for southern Dallas and two citywide customer-service agents.

CRIME NUMBERS | 1999-2000

red Ford Explorer that drove around Bishop Arts, Kidds Springs and Kings Highway, throwing bricks and rocks through the back windows of dozens of cars of August, in broad daylight, they were caught on camera, although a license plate number wasn’t captured

200077-2015 is the case number is online too!

LocalWorks.advocatemag.com