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Two Calgary dog owners have been charged under the Responsible Pet Ownership Statute following an investigation into a fatal dog attack in June.
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Emergency services were called to the 1500 block of 21 Avenue NW on June 5 for reports that an 86-year-old woman had been attacked by dogs. The woman, who has since been identified as Betty Ann Williams and commonly known as Rusty, died after being taken to hospital.
Community peacekeepers seized the three dogs involved in the attack and they have been in detention ever since. The fate of the dogs is currently pending a Dangerous Dogs Act application filed with Alberta’s Queen Bench Court by the city requesting the dogs be euthanized.
The dog owners were charged together Tuesday with various crimes under the Responsible Pet Ownership Statute.
Statutes Director Ryan Pleckaitis said Tuesday that there were multiple eyewitnesses at the time of the attack and that they looked at evidence collected by Calgary police during their investigation before filing charges.
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“It was important to allow our partners at CPS to initiate the investigation to ensure that we are not interfering with any evidence collection. So a lot of the information that led us and supported us in filing these charges came directly from evidence collected by CPS,” Pleckaitis said.
He said the dogs are still in custody and there have been some “challenges” with an enrichment program due to some safety concerns around the dogs.
“We have an excellent staff that cares for and provides care for all the animals in our establishment. It’s just because of some security issues, it’s a bit more challenging with these three animals.
Denis Bagaric and Talyn Calkins face a total of 12 felony charges including animal attack on person causing serious injury, animal attack on person, animal bite on person, running animal freely.
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The charges result in a mandatory appearance in Alberta Provincial Court and, if convicted, the owners could face a maximum fine of $10,000 for each charge and, if they fail to make such payments, could face up to 6 months in prison.
Pleckaitis said he doesn’t think these types of charges have come up often in Calgary, but he said there have been serious dog attacks in the past that have led to the issuance of mandatory court appearance tickets.
A Calgary police investigation is ongoing.
There is a separate investigation underway into the 911 response to the attack. Alberta Health Services has confirmed that at the time of the attack, EMS was on red alert, meaning ambulances were not immediately available to respond to the call. It has been revealed that a charter officer responded within nine minutes of the call. A second call was made after the officer’s arrival and an ambulance arrived approximately 30 minutes after the initial call was made.
The Alberta Health Quality Council has since been assigned to complete an external review of the response. The review is expected to be completed three months after it began last month.
