The seized American bully King from Emmen must be returned to its owner within two days. The court in Assen decided this.
The court believes that King should be returned to his owner because Mayor Eric van Oosterhout waited too long to make a final decision on the dog’s fate, according to the ruling made public on Monday. Seizing an animal is a temporary measure and according to the court, the owner had to wait too long for clarity about her dog.
Van Oosterhout does not accept this judgment and requests an urgent appeal. This is an appeal procedure to the court of appeal that is being dealt with expeditiously. “For a final legal test,” said the Emmer mayor. Van Oosterhout assumes that the emergency appeal can still be done this week. He emphasizes that he is taking these steps purely for the safety of his municipality.
Incidents
King’s owner has been trying in every way possible to get her dog back since the animal was seized following an incident in October. While walking in the Emmerhout district, King is said to have bitten a white shepherd. A year earlier, King killed a dachshund. He did not survive the dog attack.
After the incident with the dachshund, King was allowed to stay with his owner, on the condition that the animal was always left on a leash and with a muzzle. On the evening of the incident with the white shepherd, the owner’s foster son and nephew walked King and two other American bullies XL. Near the tanning salon, the group encountered a man with a white sheepdog and that dog was allegedly bitten by King. The mayor then had King seized.
King’s owner disputes that King bit the white shepherd and emphasizes that King was indeed on a leash and fitted with a muzzle on the evening in question in Emmerhout. According to her, the white shepherd was on a long leash and would have walked towards her other bullies and attacked these dogs first.
Safety
De Emmense was previously in court and in mid-December there was a hearing at the Emmer objections committee. That committee concluded that the dog should be returned to its owner, because according to it there is insufficient evidence that King is the dog that bit the white shepherd and was not wearing a muzzle and was not on a leash.
Van Oosterhout: “I have nothing against dogs. But there is something going on with this breed and this dog. In England, this breed has been banned after several fatal incidents and in the Netherlands work is underway to declare this breed as dangerous.” King was already given this label as an individual dog after the fatal incident with the dachshund. “And after it was later seized, a behavioral test was carried out by experts. It showed that this dog reacts aggressively to other dogs and also poses a great risk to people, both children and adults.”
In Monday’s ruling it can be read that the judge attaches great importance to King retaining the dangerous designation and that the leash and muzzle orders continue to apply. Van Oosterhout: “In the eyes of the judge, this means that safety for the neighborhood is sufficiently guaranteed. So I think differently about that.” According to the mayor, there is great unrest in the neighborhood. “If things go wrong, for example after this dog breaks loose, everyone will say: ‘Why haven’t adequate measures been taken to prevent this?'”
The owner of the dog does not want to respond for the time being, she said on Monday evening.