To: The New Jersey State Senate
Current Vicious Dog Law Needs to be Revised
Change the current Vicious Dog Law (NJSA 4:19 - 22) in NJ to require that a dog which has aggressively attacked and injured a human being, especially a child, be seized and euthanized after only one such attack and not be allowed to cause injury multiple times before action is taken.
Why is this important?
This petition is to change the existing Vicious Dog Law (NJSA 4:19-22) in NJ to protect human beings from any dog who has been shown to be aggressive and has caused injury and pain by an attack on a person. The current law requires that the dog must be shown to have been previously vicious and attacked unprovoked before a municipal judge will order the dog to be euthanized. This is done by assigning a 3-digit number to the dog which follows it around the state. In other words, more than one person must suffer an injury before the law will stop the animal from causing more injury in the future. My 4-year-old granddaughter was maimed and disfigured by a pit bull/boxer mix who has shown previous aggression and has nipped others since. The dog is being protected by the municipality where it now resides because "It appears to be happy and healthy." Meanwhile the child is left to face mutiple surgeries and many nights of terror-filled dreams. We have no recourse against the animal with the current law as it is written and so I hope to encourage a change in the current law so that innocent children and other persons will not have to wait for an animal to viciously attack before it can be stopped by seizing and euthanizing it. Why should a vicious animal be allowed more chances to prove its dangerous temperament? My child will not have more chances, she is disfigured and traumatized for life!