We have a neighbor that has 30-40 dogs that roam the area killing small animals and even an 800 pound sow. What can we do?

Dear Ed,

I live in Shadow Hills, CA, a livestock/horse keeping area in northeastern Los Angeles City. This is a foothill area and there are lots of horse trails connecting through open areas. I have shown dogs, trained them, and bred a few litters so I understand the variations in the breed temperaments. I would like your opinion on this situation.

Last year we suffered a dog attack on our rabbitry losing 20 animals. The dogs came over 2 fences onto our property. Within a few weeks our local property owners bulletin came out announcing that a local school for developmentally disabled children had lost several sheep, goats, etc. from their petting zoo. A local trainer of herding dogs lost 6 sheep and a neighbor lost 5 goats in the same night. These dogs were easily identified and since it was reported that 2 "husky" type dogs were responsible I called the Animal Control number to tell them that there had been 5 very large dogs in our yard, 2 purebred huskies, 2 obvious crosses, and a huge tan husky/Akita looking mix. Our young Pyrenees was unable to drive them off (2 of them were larger that she was). They were very aggressive, we were unable to drive them off until we came out with a rifle. Animal Control told me that they had identified the owner, that she had 30-40 dogs and they had been removed from her property. We learned later that residents of the street backing up to the property where these dogs were kept had had most of their small pets killed over a period of several months. Repeated complaints to Animal Control were ineffective. During my call telling Animal Control that I could identify these dogs I was informed that the dogs responsible for the kills had been euthanized.

This year another rash of killing has erupted and after reporting this to Animal Control we were shocked to learn that they had allowed this owner to pay some fines and had returned all the dogs to her. None of the dogs were euthanized. None of the dogs were fixed, nor were they licensed, nor did she have a kennel license. No damages were paid for the dead animals. It turns out that this woman is connected to the police department as a forensic psychologist. She has also been breeding these dogs, crossing huskies (Mals or Siberians) with Great Pyrenees to increase their size. The dogs again killed all the new petting zoo animals at the school (including a mature 800 lb sow they missed the first time, and were coming into the yards of the people living on the street behind her and growling and snarling at them when they came out of their houses.

It is my opinion (as well as that of the 6 Pyr and Husky rescue organizations) that all these dogs will need to be euthanized. The owner told Animal Control that all the dogs were sweet household pets. I realize this is an extreme example of bad ownership, but the actions of the Animal Control is puzzling.

What is your opinion on this situation and the disposition of the dogs? 4 different Animal Control officers told us to shoot them on sight if they got into our yard. Since the police will then arrest us for discharging a gun within city limits I was pretty annoyed (although understandably the shoot, shut up and bury deep rule will be followed here). Now the City Attorney is having a hearing about her having too many dogs on her property - nothing about the vicious nature of the dogs. No one in the community was told about the hearing until we got involved. We have posted flyers around and hopefully will a good turnout at the hearing. The Animal Control people did not even have a map of the area which showed the proximity of her property to all the open area. From her property the dogs could access all points of our community with minimal exposure on public streets.

In addition to breeding Great Pyrs with Mals/Siberians, this woman also has 7 Jindos which she keeps in a large enclosure. According to one officer, these dogs are essentially wild and even the owner cannot approach them. I have seen the photos taken by Animal Control and her dogs are "confined" in large chain link pens. These pens are chain link strung on poles in dirt, not concrete, and the Animal Control officer said that they were not secure.