Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 24, 1994 TAG: 9405240069
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The child, Ashley Walton, received 16 stitches to repair injuries received when the free-running dog attacked May 15 as she played near her home at Hale's Trailer Park. The dog also bit Ashley's mother, Donna Reed, when she came to her toddler's rescue.
Ashley is sleeping a lot as she recovers from the bites, but is doing well, a relative said Monday.
County Attorney Roy Thorpe said he filed a petition on Monday "requesting that the dog be destroyed pursuant to the county code."
The dog, a female chow, will remain locked up at the county pound until its fate is decided in Montgomery County General District Court on May 31. The county had been holding the chow on a 10-day quarantine to watch for any symptoms of rabies, but that was to have ended Wednesday.
"There's a lot of people down there calling, concerned that it's coming back," said Al Vaden, a county animal control officer.
Thorpe said he filed the petition after conferring Monday with Kelly Walters, the animal control officer who investigated the case. The dog's owner, Audrey L. Scott, will be served with a copy of the petition.
Scott could not be reached for comment.
Walters last week charged Scott with two minor violations: allowing a dog to run at large and having an unlicensed dog.
Thorpe filed the new petition under the county ordinance governing dangerous animals. That section forbids the owner of a dangerous animal to allow it to run at large. It also allows the county to kill the animal if the owner fails to keep it under control after having been given notice.
The dog in this case bit another child last fall, according to a Shawsville Rescue Squad official. Reed, Ashley's mother, said last week that the same dog also bit her son last summer.
by CNB