Exclusive: Shelter dog caged for weeks without walks bites volunteer
A shelter dog that had not been walked in nearly a month attacked a volunteer, leaving her with lifelong injuries, though as she explained to CBSLA, she blames Los Angeles Animal Services for not doing enough to control its stray animal population.
"I wear this bracelet and it says, 'Be love,' because I think dogs are pure love," volunteer Nancy Utovac said.
For five years, almost every day of the week, Utovac volunteered at the Harbor Animal Care Center run by the city of LA, but she hasn't been back since February. That's when a dog named Tyson attacked her as she and another volunteer let him out of his cage.
The dog bit her hand so severely it severed an artery.
"He just snapped," Utovac told CBSLA.
She believes that Tyson was a victim of his environment, saying he had been at the shelter for more than a year and had not been walked in three weeks.
"Some dogs just can't take being locked up with no human interaction for that amount of time," Utovac said.
Steve Manyak, a veterinarian at Pine Animal Hospital, said that since dogs are pack animals, being isolated can make a tame dog turn aggressive.
"They need to interact, to be comfortable with interaction. If that interaction is removed, and they are not interacting with other animals or people, then any interaction after that is anxiety causing. Most of what we call aggression is a reaction to them feeling afraid," Manyak said.
Last week, CBSLA reported on heartbreaking images posted to social media by volunteers LA city animal shelters of dogs being left for weeks, even months at a time in their kennels without going for walks. Utovac said she saw dogs go cage crazy.
RELATED: Dogs at LA animal shelters go weeks, months without walks
"Sometimes, they just spin in their kennels. They bark. They jump incessantly. Sometimes, they injure themselves by rubbing their noses against the cage," she explained.
Utovac said that's one of the reasons that she went to Tyson that day, because he was one of the dogs who hadn't been walked in weeks.
"It's inhumane," she said. "It's inhumane to keep them locked up for this amount of time."
Tyson was euthanized after he bit Utovac. Advocates say his case demonstrates why a "no kill" policy without taking steps to reduce our animal population is counterproductive.
"So, the city is trying to carry out this no kill policy, and all that meant for this dog is that he sat in a cage for, reportedly, two years and he is euthanized anyway and someone has now been bitten," Lisa Lange, Senior Vice-President at PITA, said. "That policy is wrong. He shouldn't been in that cage for as long he was."
Earlier this week, the city council held an emergency meeting to address the crisis in its overcrowded and understaffed shelters. Advocates said volunteers have been sounding the alarm for years, and that more time and more money needs to be invested to enforce the city's spay and neuter ordinance.
"We need to bring the numbers down so that it's a manageable number of homeless animals, so that there is a good home for every animal who needs it and it's doable," Lange told CBSLA.
LA Animal Services told CBSLA that even if a dog is not walked regularly, they do get other enrichment activities, which Utovac said was something like blowing bubbles into their cages.
In a statement to CBSLA about Tyson's case, LA Animal Services said:
"Tyson exhibited behaviors that were of a safety concern towards people and animals. His owner surrendered him to us for the same reasons. However, we can't speculate, nor should volunteers, as to the reason why a dog displays certain behaviors."
