WH Animal Control Concerned About Dog Bites

WEST HARTFORD, CT — West Hartford's animal control department is noticing a growing problem of dog bites in town where the dog owners are, simply, leaving the scene without helping the victims.

By not providing contact information and fleeing, dog owners are likely subjecting dog bite victims to painful rabies shots because of this requirement for precautionary reasons.

"Recently, the animal control division has investigated several dog bites to people and other dogs, where the offending dog owner has left the scene without providing contact information," wrote the West Hartford Animal Control Department on social media. "We’d like to clear up any misconceptions about our role in investigating these incidents."

According to the department:

• The town will not ”take” your dog.

Owners will be ordered to quarantine their dog at home or a kennel depending on it’s rabies vaccination status. The quarantine is 10 days.

This is to ensure the safety of the victim. Rabies is fatal and vaccination is not 100 percent, according to animal control officials.

The quarantine period is a monitoring period for signs/symptoms of rabies.

• Second, depending on the situation and number of times a dog has bitten someone or something, owners may receive an infraction.

"In cases of severe bites, there may be other enforcement taken," wrote the animal control department. "But if your dog is that aggressive, then you should already be trying to figure out what to do."

• Third, animal control officials will likely offer advice or suggestions on how to reduce the risk of a dog biting again.

"When you leave the victim with no information, they likely will have to go through the post exposure rabies series," wrote town officials. "This is a series of injections that are very costly and painful. The last few victims have been juveniles and elderly individuals."

For more information, call West Hartford Animal Control at 860-570-8818.

For the West Hartford Animal Control Department's Facebook page, click on this link.

For the West Hartford Animal Control Department's web page, click on this link.