New Details About Haddonfield Dog Put Down Last Week After Attacks

The dog a Haddonfield doctor had euthanized last week after it bit a young girl was actually going after one of three other dogs the family owns when the incident occurred, a police report completed this week said.

The uproar broke Friday, April 29 when reports about the incident surfaced.  The drama peaked when Duke, the dog that injured the girl, was put to death in Room No. 5 of the Red Bank Veterinarian Hospital in Cherry Hill 4:10 p.m. that day.

Duke was a Rhodesian Ridgeback, dogs originally breed for lion hunts in Africa. He was one of four Rhodesian Ridgebacks Dr. Robert Taffet and his family own and the offspring of Rocky, a canine declared a “vicious dog” by borough officials. The Taffets live in the 100 block of Upland Way in an upscale neighborhood near the Tavistock Country Club.

They insist their dogs are not a threat to anyone, despite at least five documented incidents in which they have injured others. The most serious incident occurred in 2009 on a farm the Taffets own in Salem County. Duke, the dog destroyed last week, was cited for biting a 3-year-old girl in an incident that tore off part of her ear. A Salem County municipal court judge ruled then that if Duke attacked anyone else, he would have to be put down. And that’s just what happened last week.

The police report this week also stated that Ed Borden, one of three commissioners, the highest elected officials in the borough, first reported the incident to police at 9:15 a.m. on April 28. A local resident with knowledge of the situation said the girl who was injured while leaving the Taffets' home on April 19 is the daughter of a business associate of Borden. Borden, a lawyer and former Camden County prosecutor, said he found out about the incident from "the family of the victim," but declined further comment.  

“…His daughter had friends over and that they were in the basement,” according to a police report narrative dated May 2. “He told his daughter to keep everyone in the basement while he fed the dogs. His daughter advised him that a parent was coming to pick up her friend.

“The dogs were walking around to digest their food and Dr. Taffet did not expect the father to respond so quickly. He stated the dogs bumped into each other and as Duke was going after the other dog, the female victim walked up the stairs and got between the dogs. The dog bit her unintentionally as it was going after the other dog.”

The Taffets exclusively told Haddonfield Patch last week that they were not aware the girl was injured and that she assured them she was fine. She was not, it turned out.

“The victim sustained a puncture wound on her left bicep and there was also some bruising,” the report stated.

The Taffets said last week their recent string of bad luck has been difficult. Dr. Taffet, an orthopedic surgeon, is no longer able to operate after a series of accidents that left him disabled. He hurt his back several years ago while attempting to move a patient, his wife Michele Taffet told Haddonfield Patch.

After Rocky was declared a “vicious dog” by the borough they now have to pay an additional $700 yearly to have him licensed in Haddonfield and are mandated to have a certain level of home insurance, have proper fencing around their property and post signs about their dogs. Their other two dogs are licensed in Salem County, which complies with state laws that require dogs be licensed somewhere in the state. Some of  their Haddonfield neighbors had complained before last month’s incident that the dogs still roam the neighborhood unattended, which the Taffets deny.

What they did admit to was that Duke, the dog killed last week, was “never the same” after a six-month stint in a kennel after the Salem County incident in 2009.