Court battle begins over fatal attack

Woman’s dog dies after incident

A Saskatoon dog owner is fighting in court to keep one of his pets from being declared dangerous under a city bylaw.

John Kwok’s dog, a male Akita named Hachi, fatally attacked a female sheltie named Chelsea on the Meewasin Trail near the Mendel Art Gallery on March 18, 2012. Both animals were leashed at the time.

“He had his teeth in her and he was not coming up for air. He wanted to kill her,” Chelsea’s owner, Shirley Jennings, testified Friday at a hearing into the matter. Chelsea subsequently underwent multiple surgeries — racking up a veterinary bill of close to $9,000 — before dying of her injuries on March 27.

Kwok was not present when the incident happened. Two friends were walking Hachi and his other Akita, a female named Bella, when they passed by Jennings and her two small dogs on the trail.

Jennings said she didn’t notice anything was wrong until Chelsea’s leash jerked tight. When she turned to look, “(Chelsea) was on the ground with the (other) dog on top of her, chewing at her,” she said.

Jennings reported the attack to the city’s animal control agency a few weeks later, but did not decide to press forward with a formal complaint under the dangerous dog bylaw until June, after consulting with a lawyer about launching a small claims lawsuit against Kwok, court heard.

Speaking to reporters soon after the incident, she said she wants the Akita euthanized.

That’s the most severe option available under Saskatoon’s bylaw; however, if the dog is declared dangerous, the justice of the peace who is hearing the matter may instead issue an order that it must be muzzled at all times when in public.

Chelsea was not the first small dog to suffer injuries from an encounter with one of Kwok’s Akitas.

On Nov. 13, 2011, Kathy Jackson and her husband were at the Avalon off-leash park with their two dogs, one of which was a Jack Russell terrier named Ozzie. As they were entering an enclosed area in the middle of the park, a group of men yelled at them to get out of the area because there were two aggressive dogs inside, Jackson told the hearing.

They left the enclosure, but a few moments later Ozzie slipped back inside through a gap under the fence. Jackson said the Akitas ran up to the smaller dog and one of them attacked. Her husband jumped the fence and rescued Ozzie, who had a torn lip and a small puncture to the top of his head.

Kwok “didn’t apologize or retrieve his dogs, he just let them keep running freely and wildly around there,” Jackson testified. “I was very angry, of course. . . . He didn’t want to take any responsibility for the attack and blamed our Jack Russell.”

The hearing is expected to continue with testimony from defence witnesses on June 7.