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Forum on how to deal with aggressive dogs

Posted at 10:29 PM, Jan 25, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-26 00:29:09-05

Thursday night, a group of people gathered together for a forum, hosted by the Ward 6 City Council Office and Pima Animal Care Center, on how to deal with aggressive dogs. This, coming after a dog in a Midtown neighborhood attacked and killed a woman's dog while she was walking her.

One of the attendees -- Carol Vinson. She lives in the Tierra del Sol neighborhood and has pets. Often times, she gets nervous walking her dog through her neighborhood, scared of being attacked by stray or loose, aggressive dogs.

"We have a lot of dogs that appear to run loose in the neighborhood," she said. "We had two pit bulls that attacked a man walking his dog."

Afraid it will happen to her, she was confused at to which agency to call if it did -- until this forum. The goal, according to Council Member Steve Kozachik, educate people on how to handle these kinds of situations.

"Who to call, what number to call, what information to give," Kozachik said. "And then what kind of response to expect, and that's important that the residents know so they're making the right kinds of phone calls."

The key, making the right phone calls -- knowing that it's a case by case basis on which agency to call. If you are attacked by a dog, call 9-1-1. However, if you try and dial 9-1-1 if your pet is being attacked by another animal, you may not get the answer you want.

"Dog on dog attack is going to go to the bottom of the list if you call 9-1-1," Kozachik said. "The Pima Animal Care Center has an emergency line."

The number to call: (520) 724-5900 ext. 4.

That number will get you in touch with the right people at PACC.

The representative at the forum explained PACC will be meeting with the Tucson Police Department in the near future in order to improve the way they work together to respond to aggressive dog calls throughout the area.