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Great, just great=>hubby bit by unvaccinated pup tonight


elenamarie

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Ouch !!, never mind he was probably due a tetanus update anyway. . . :eek:

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Thanks, everyone. :grouphug:You guys are the best! We'll see what the doc says later this morning.

I just took Sarah out and didn't see the pup. Since he's allowed to run the neighborhood that's not unexpected but I'll feel better once I know what happened to him. I'll update when I know something.

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I hope your hubby recovers quickly and that your neighbours face the full weight of the law for this incident.

Are there any laws governing the killing of an animal even your own in the US? I ask this because here in the UK you would be prosecuted for killing any animal unless you have the required authorisation to do so

Whether an owner is subject to prosecution for killing an animal depends on what type of animal it is, the situation, the local and state laws in effect, etc. If, for example, an obviously rabid dog showed up in my yard and I shot it, or one of my kids was being attacked by a dog and I shot it, I wouldn't be prosecuted. It really just depends. But there's no blanket prohibition against killing an animal.

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WTF!? i hope ur hubby is ok - god i feel sorry for that pup if it WAS vacc - but tbh if the did shoot it u can pretty much garuntee it didnt have it shots :(

I'm pretty sure the pup wasn't vaccinated. When we asked for the rabies certificate, the owner told us that he didn't get anything from the vet after the pup was given the shot. By law the vet has to provide both a rabies certificate and and rabies tag for the animal's collar, that I know for a fact. No way did the vet "forget" to give the owner those items.

I went out looking for the pup a little while ago but no sign of him.

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This is really developing into something. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me, that since the neighbor was aware that pup bit your husband, and the subject of rabies and the certificate came up in conversation, and assuming your husband has been to the doctor, therefore, some procedure toward quarantining the pup may have started, that if the pup's owner did in fact shoot the pup, that the pup's owner could be charged with impeding an ongoing investigation, or some other crime related to this matter. Let's hope the pup is still with us. Hope your husband heals quickly.

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This is really developing into something. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me, that since the neighbor was aware that pup bit your husband, and the subject of rabies and the certificate came up in conversation, and assuming your husband has been to the doctor, therefore, some procedure toward quarantining the pup may have started, that if the pup's owner did in fact shoot the pup, that the pup's owner could be charged with impeding an ongoing investigation, or some other crime related to this matter. Let's hope the pup is still with us. Hope your husband heals quickly.

I hope all is well with your husband. Unfortunately it does seem that the poor pup was not vaccinated. If they did shoot the pup then I hope they do get charged with impeding an ongoing investigation or made to produce the pup and ensure that he is guarantened and vaccinated. I doubt if they would be prepared to pay this though if the attitude in your area is that they are disposable commoditites and dogs are allowed to free roam in an area where rabies is present. Ultimately, he did bite your husband more than once and you may be in a position to sue them for this. I would do this if I thought they were thinking they could get away with this by shooting the dog. A few years ago a young GSD got out of its garden onto the back playing field and bit a child who was provoking him. The dog was destroyed and the owners were made to pay out a small fortune to the parents. They built a side extension to their house! Luckily for the owners they were insured.

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I'm not a lawyer either, but have a reasonably good understanding of where to go looking and am normally able to bring the correct salient points to bear. I forget, exactly, what the law said but there were some strong penalties for impeding the investigation surrounding a dog bite. I would think that if they did shoot the pup then they would have shot it through the head which would completely eliminate the possibility of sending the brain (which would have been seriously contaminated) to the states lab for testing.

I'm betting that they'll try to play the "he wasn't our dog, he just hung around here" card, which won't work too well if they've been feeding him.

Again best of luck getting this resolved and my best wishes for a safe, fast recovery for the hubby.

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Update:

The doc gave Mitch antibiotics and a tetanus booster, and told him they would call DHEC (state health dept). Nothing was said about beginning treatment, so I called the DHEC after hours line and talked to a Doctor Somebody (didn't catch her name). She said that we have six weeks before treatment must begin if the pup is rabid, so I felt better. They'll be out Monday or Tuesday to begin the investigation.

Still no sign of the puppy. I took Sarah outside to play, which always brings the pup to our yard, but no pup. Either they have it inside (unlikely) or that shot I heard was them shooting the pup. The DHEC people will find out which it is. The owner's girlfriend told me last night she doesn't want the pup inside because she's pregnant (very!) and the guy hasn't had the pup to the vet tobe wormed, etc. In light of that, I seriously doubt the pup is inside. But maybe. . ..

Thanks so much for the well-wishes, everyone. I was pretty worried until I spoke to the DHEC doctor. The CDC needs to change their website to remove the "start treatment immediately if no proof of vaccination exists" statement--that had me totally confused after our doctor didn't even mention it.

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I hope all is well with your husband. Unfortunately it does seem that the poor pup was not vaccinated. If they did shoot the pup then I hope they do get charged with impeding an ongoing investigation or made to produce the pup and ensure that he is guarantened and vaccinated. I doubt if they would be prepared to pay this though if the attitude in your area is that they are disposable commoditites and dogs are allowed to free roam in an area where rabies is present. Ultimately, he did bite your husband more than once and you may be in a position to sue them for this. I would do this if I thought they were thinking they could get away with this by shooting the dog. A few years ago a young GSD got out of its garden onto the back playing field and bit a child who was provoking him. The dog was destroyed and the owners were made to pay out a small fortune to the parents. They built a side extension to their house! Luckily for the owners they were insured.

I don't know about suing them myself but our health insurer is definitely going to go after the neighbor's homeowner's policy to cover Mitch's medical claims--that's standard practice. The neighbor's homeowner's insurance carrier will notify them that our health carrier is suing for medical, which will probably cause some bad blood but we have no control over that.

<sigh> What a mess, and sooooooooooooooooooooo preventable. UGH!

And the DHEC doctor agrees with you and I, @Biggles --the line about the vet not giving him a rabies tag probably means the pup was never vaccinated to begin with.

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I'm not a lawyer either, but have a reasonably good understanding of where to go looking and am normally able to bring the correct salient points to bear. I forget, exactly, what the law said but there were some strong penalties for impeding the investigation surrounding a dog bite. I would think that if they did shoot the pup then they would have shot it through the head which would completely eliminate the possibility of sending the brain (which would have been seriously contaminated) to the states lab for testing.

I'm betting that they'll try to play the "he wasn't our dog, he just hung around here" card, which won't work too well if they've been feeding him.

Again best of luck getting this resolved and my best wishes for a safe, fast recovery for the hubby.

Thanks! It'll be interesting to see what happens if he did shoot the pup, I'm sure the state folks aren't going to be happy about that. Not to mention Mitch and me. I'll be sure to post what, if any, penalties he gets if he did shoot the pup.

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Update:

We didn't see the puppy at all yesterday, nor today. I'm about convinced they shot it. The people from the state will be around early this week, they should be able to determine what happened to it.

Mitch is fine. His arm is still sore but he's going to be okay. We still don't know if he needs to have the rabies treatment but he's calming down about the possibility.

What a mess.

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The pup is alive.

Mitch saw the girl outside a few minutes ago and asked where it was. She said they've locked the pup in the house until he has had his vaccinations. He didn't ask if they were going to build a kennel or whatever. At this point Mitch was glad the pup wasn't shot so he has a good chance of not having to go through the rabies treatment. Whew!

My questions are, why not make sure he's vaccinated when it should happen, and why let the pup run the neighborhood? But that's just me I guess.

But at least the poor thing wasn't shot.

Now to see what kind of fines, etc. they get for having an unvaccinated pup running loose, and whether or not Mitch has to have the rabies treatment.

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I hope your hubby recovers quickly and that your neighbours face the full weight of the law for this incident.

Are there any laws governing the killing of an animal even your own in the US? I ask this because here in the UK you would be prosecuted for killing any animal unless you have the required authorisation to do so

Some states have animal cruelty laws that could be looked into.

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