Owners of aggressive dogs could face tougher penalties under a bill that will be discussed this week by a County Council committee.
Bill 125, which will be introduced at Tuesday’s meeting of the Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Committee, aims to reform how the county deals with incidents involving dangerous dogs.
The bill reorganizes the county statutes regarding animal attacks to include a standalone section dealing solely with dogs. Within that section is a new tiered system of penalties for the offense of negligent failure to control a dangerous dog, depending on the severity of the injuries caused by the incident.
Under that system of penalties, if a dog causes bodily injury to a person or injures or kills an animal and the owner is determined to have “negligently failed to take reasonable measures to prevent the dog from attacking,” its owner is subject to fines between $200 and $1,000, and up to 30 days of imprisonment or six months of probation.
Cases of substantial bodily injury — defined in the bill as an injury that causes a major avulsion or penetration of the skin, a bone fracture, damage to internal organs, a serious concussion or more — subject the owner to a class C felony charge, a fine between $500 and $10,000, up to five years’ imprisonment, and the humane destruction of the dog.
Incidents causing a person’s death or serious bodily injury — an injury “which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ” — will garner a class B felony charge, fines between $500 and $25,000, imprisonment of up to 10 years, and the death of the dog.
“We hope that the penalties will be a motivation for people to properly care for their animals,” said Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz, who drafted the bill. “Right now, the penalty is somewhere between $25 and $50, which isn’t enough to convince people to change their behavior.”
In cases where the dog is not euthanized, the bill also allows the court to require violators to keep their dogs muzzled and attended at all times outdoors, procure liability insurance of at least $50,000 and more at its own determination.
The bill also removes discretionary language about when animal control officers are permitted to seize a dangerous dog.
Where the current law offers some leeway and allows officers to seize a dog “if the dog is posing an imminent threat to human beings or to other animals,” Bill 125 instead calls for the dog to be seized in all cases where probable cause of a violation has been found.
Kierkiewicz said harsh penalties are necessary to deter violent attacks like the incident that claimed the life of 85-year-old Dolores Oskins last year.
On Aug. 14, Oskins was searching for her own lost dog in Hawaiian Paradise Park and was beset by several dogs belonging to a neighbor. Oskins was taken to Hilo Medical Center in critical condition and died Sept. 7.
“The police only took two of the neighbors’ dogs,” said Oskins’ daughter, Alicia Kekela. “The other four or five dogs are still there. The neighbors took no responsibility for the attack, they’re still treating the dogs in the same way that made them vicious in the first place.
“There was nothing we or the police could do because our laws suck,” Kekela continued.
After Oskins’ death, Hawaiian Acres resident Sylvia Dolena began compiling social media reports of dog attacks on the Big Island, and estimates that Ka‘u and Puna have multiple attacks monthly, sometimes even weekly.
“About 60% of these attacks aren’t reported to police,” Dolena said. “There’s lots of bureaucracy, lots of red tape, and the warnings, the slaps on the wrist owners get, do nothing.”
Dolena said victims also are worried about retaliation for reporting negligent dog owners, but added that the bill’s codification of the legal response to dog attacks should make any such retaliation a clear case of terroristic threatening.
The bill also provides penalties for repeat offenders — fines between $200 and $2,000 and up to one year in prison — which could provide relief for rural communities where the same dogs are frequently reported running loose.
Hawaiian Acres resident Margaret Bartelt was attacked by dogs in 2019, requiring 10 stitches in her arm as a result, only for the same dogs to attack another resident little more than a month later.
Since then, Bartelt said, the dogs’ owner has only occasionally appeared in court for hearings, while the same dogs are still periodically seen loose in the area.
“If there’s a strong enough penalty, then it might behoove someone to show up in court,” Bartelt said.
The discussion of the bill will take place at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.