A Montreal man who tried to go to court to save his dog has failed in his bid to overturn a decision by the city to euthanize the animal.
The dog, a five-year-old American Staffordshire Bull Terriernamed Wicca, bit two people on the street within an hour. On June 7, she jumped on a woman on Jarry St.in Park Extension.
“She got scared, I guess, and jumped, at the same time my dog jumped and grazed her,” said owner Christos Papakostas, who is heartbroken about losing his beloved friend.
Urgences santé treated the woman's injuries, at which time the dog then bit the paramedic in the groin area.
Though Papakostas said Wicca is a fun-loving, well-adjusted pet, the city's canine squad deemed the dog too unpredictable and ordered it to be euthanized.
“I tried calling them, I tried pleading with them. They didn't want to hear anything,” he said.
Papakostas argued the case in court and lost, even on appeal.
"The dog bit two people in less than an hour, without warning, without provocation... even while on a leash, under its owner's control," wrote Justice Jean-Yves Lalonde.
The municipal bylaw as written gives full power to a civil servant to decide if a dog can live or if it must be euthanized.
Friends of Papakostas and animal rights activists have launched a campaign to save the dog, who's currently held at Berger Blanc animal shelter awaiting euthanasia.
Any dog, from poodle to pitbull, can be perfectly safe if properly trained, said John Truss, owner of Alpha Dog Training Montreal.
“If you train your dog at a young age to be comfortable around people, children, other dogs, the better off you are,” he said.
Short of a last minute reprieve, it might be too late for Wicca, who will likely be put down within the next 48 hours.
The incident has torn Papakostas apart.
“I can't sleep. She was my life partner,” he said through tears. Papakostas. “Waking up this morning was the hardest thing I could do because I knew I didn't have the dog next to me.”
