HoustonChronicle.com
Address:http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1205693 Jan.
10, 2002, 2:29PM
Rottweilers attack boy waiting for bus
By MIKE GLENN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

Two unlicensed and possibly unvaccinated Rottweilers mauled a 9-year-old
Waller ISD student waiting for the school bus Wednesday morning. And,
while the dogs are in custody, neighbors say they won’t feel safe until
both animals are destroyed.

Michael Martinez, a fourth-grader at Jones Intermediate School, was
taken by Life Flight helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital after the
attack, which occurred about 6:45 a.m. in the 24000 block of Jumpin Jay
Lane.
Hospital officials, citing the family’s wishes, would not comment about
the boy’s condition late Wednesday afternoon. Earlier in the day,
however, they listed him in fair condition.

Neighbors in the Ranch Country subdivision in northwest Harris County
said Michael knew the dogs and wasn’t afraid of them.

“He called them over there,” said Megan Watson, 11, who was also at the
bus stop. “They came and then they started attacking him.”

The two dogs that mauled the boy — and a third that didn’t leave the
yard — were taken into custody by Harris County animal control
officers.

The two will either be destroyed or, if the owner still wants to keep
them, they will spend at least 10 days in quarantine to ensure against
rabies.

If the owner chooses to keep the dogs, Harris County officials said they
will likely start proceedings to have the dogs declared dangerous.

Animal control officials said the owner is in violation of at least two
regulations. The dogs are not registered with Harris County and were not
kept in a secured enclosure. Officials were still working Wednesday to
determine if the dogs had received their shots — also required by
county law.

“We have no vaccination information on the animals,” said Colleen
Hedges, a spokeswoman for Harris County Public Health and Environmental
Services. “If they had them vaccinated at a private clinic, we don’t
have that information.”

The owner could not be reached for comment.
While animal control officers investigate dog bite cases almost on a
daily basis, Hedges said an attack this severe usually only happens
every couple of years.

This Rottweiler, wounded after being shot by a neighbor, sits inside a
Harris County animal control vehicle cage. It was one of two that
attacked a boy. One case that brought national attention involved a San
Francisco couple who now face involuntary manslaughter charges in the
death of a woman mauled in her apartment hallway by two Canary Island
mastiffs.

Diane Whipple died after the attack, which occurred one year ago. Her
neighbors, Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, were caring for the animals
at the time.

Megan Watson, who rides the school bus every day with Michael, witnessed
Wednesday’s attack.

“They were just biting him and dragging him and throwing him on the
ground,” Megan said.
“He was trying to scream but he couldn’t hardly scream because they were
just pounding on him.”

Terrified, she raced to her home screaming for help. Her home, like the
home of the dogs’ owner, is within a few houses of where the attack
occurred.

Her father grabbed his shotgun and ran back to the bus stop.

“When I first got there I couldn’t see anything but the dogs because
they were on top of the boy,” Trent Watson said.

The Rottweilers then began pulling at the boy, Watson said. He told the
other children to leave the area and began shouting at the dogs to
divert their attention from the boy.

“One came after me and I shot him,” Watson said. “The next one jumped
off, but then got back on the boy.”

Watson said he guessed that each of the dogs weighed at least 60 pounds
– about as much as Michael.

He moved around to get a better shot at the other dog.

“He turned toward me, and I wounded him in the leg,” Watson said.

One of the dogs returned to its home while the other ran away. The
animal was captured a few hours later in the same subdivision.
Megan said the dogs have acted friendly in the past, but now she wants
them put to sleep.

“I have a little sister and she likes to go outside. We both like to go
outside,” Megan said. “It could be one of us.”

Others agreed with her.

“That little boy is a family friend (of the owners),” said Tracey

Vancantfort. “Look what happened to him.”
Hedges, with Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services,
said the Rottweilers now meet the two criteria to be declared legally
dangerous — the attack occurred outside their yard and it sent the
victim to the hospital.

In a hearing before a justice of the peace, the dogs might be destroyed
if the judge deems them a threat to the public safety.

However, the judge could allow the owner to keep the animals, providing
she can meet an extensive series of new regulations, Hedges said.

Owners of dangerous animals must maintain $100,000 in liability
insurance and house the animal in a fenced-in enclosure with a concrete
floor. The animals must be spayed or neutered and muzzled anytime they
are off the property.
“What usually happens in these situations is the owners do not want the
dogs back,” Hedges said.

Neighbors said they have at times seen the Rottweilers roaming the area.
Vancantfort let the animals stay in her garage Sunday night because of
the cold weather.

“We brought those two in and we pulled out a 25-pound bag of dog food,
and they were just starving to death,” Vancantfort said. “We felt sorry
for them.”

Vancantfort didn’t call animal control and now regrets giving the dogs
back to their owner.
“We were just trying to be good neighbors. Now we feel kind of bad,” she
said.

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