Hey, remember yesterday, when everyone at SFist chimed in on the "what to do when a homeless kid's dog bites your friend on the leg" question? We got quite a few interesting answers, and one suggestion that we get in touch with the good folks at San Francisco Animal Control to see what they suggest doing in those circumstances. Deb Campbell was kind enough to answer a few of our questions:

What would Animal Control do in that situation, where a homeless kid owner
lets his dog bite someone?

There are a few ways that this situation could work itself out, depending on the parties involved. The person who was bitten could have called us and reported the bite - then requested a 'Vicious & Dangerous Dog Hearing'. These hearings happen every Thursday at City Hall, and are basically 'doggy court'. We would have picked up the dog and held it in our custody at the shelter until the hearing.

More of Deb Campbell's suggestions after the jump!

If the dog did not have a current rabies vaccine, we would have to hold the dog for ten days - a mandatory rabies observation holding period that applies to any animal that has bitten and broken skin. At the hearing, the hearing officer would listen to both sides and make a decision based on the evidence. He could order a variety of things/conditions. He would probably have the dog evaluated by a professional behaviorist to determine if the dog was a risk to the community - then place the appropriate restrictions on the dog. For example, he could require the dog to wear a muzzle when in public. If the owners choose to give up the dog rather than pay fines, keep fees, follow restrictions, etc. - we would try to place the dog with a rescue group. In extreme cases - if the dog is very vicious and dangerous - we may end up euthanizing the dog, but we go through many, many steps before reaching that point. I need to be very clear about this point - the SPCA would not take a dog with a bite history, even if it was nice looking. They take animals that are easily adoptable - and a dog that has bitten someone is not considered adoptable by any shelter.

In this case (and in most cases involving the homeless, I'll wager) the
dog and owner have disappeared. This particular kid was known to the cops
- if my friend had lodged a formal complaint/report, do the police have an
"animals to contact Animal Control about" list? It seems like Animal Control doesn't have the time to be tracking down the homeless, right?

Sometimes witnesses will come forward and direct us to where the person and animal are - or we would work with the police. If the people hang out in the same places, we can usually find them. Every situation is different. Once the complaint comes in, we go to work to do what we can to find the animal and owner. We're here to protect animals from people AND people from animals. We take potentially dangerous animals very seriously.

If the pet owner doesn't show up to the hearing, does the animal automatically get placed with a rescue group?

If the pet owner does not show up, and we do not have possession of the animal - we would seize the animal and bring him/her in to the shelter, then try and reschedule the
hearing. If we have the animal at the shelter, we would also try and contact the owner to reschedule the hearing. We want the pet and owner, and the victim, to get their day in court, so we'll do what we can to make sure
that it happens.

What rescue groups do you work with?

Our most active rescue groups are:

Toni's Kitty Rescue
Grateful Dogs Rescue
Rocket Dog Rescue
Gimme Shelter Cat Rescue
Mickaboo Bird Rescue
Save A Bunny
Urban Cat Project

The rescue groups take the animals that we can't put up for adoption here due to health and behavior reasons, and who aren't taken by the SPCA for the same reasons (the SPCA also only takes cats & dogs.) We also work with a variety of specialty rescues for purebred dogs and cats, parrots, chinchillas, snakes, reptiles, guinea pigs, rats, etc. We also have wildlife rehabilitators for our wild birds and mammals. The rescue groups above are linked from our website under the 'Adoption Center' page. We do everything we can to find placement for the animals who end up here.


Image credit: philg@mit.edu / Photo.net