51-year-old Kieran Thomas Burns of Petaluma, California, was sentenced to nine months in jail and three years of probation today. His two Rottweilers broke out of his backyard April 29 and ran at Roberto Kampfner and his son, Roberto Jr., as they were walking near their home. Both the father and son were bitten, but the son was mauled terribly. (Click here to read the article.)
Burns previously had been cited for having potentially dangerous dogs and ordered to keep them on a leash at all times. Now his two Rottweilers have been enthanized, he is forbidden from owning dogs for three years, and he will spend up to nine months in jail.
The Kampfners have moved hundreds of miles away, but their son remains terrified of dogs and is still recovering from the mauling.
In Preventing Dog Bites, I have set forth a 10-point plan that includes restricting the kind of people who should be allowed to own fighting dogs and the bigger, more powerful dogs. People like Burns who violate animal control laws would not be allowed to have such dogs under the laws that I advocate. Most of the time, it is the dog owners who are dangerous and even vicious -- their dogs just follow suit.
9 Months in Jail for Rottweiler Owner Who Defied Order and Caused Mauling
