Dogs roaming free, most often leaving properties freely through unlocked gates, are a problem our Readers have brought to our attention. Two mixed-breed dogs ran up to a man walking along a street in Bolesławice. Both were well cared for. They began jumping on him. The man considered it playful behavior. At first he gently shooed them away, but eventually, irritated, he waved his arms threateningly and shouted at the dogs to leave him alone. One of them, jumping away from the man, ran into the road directly under the wheels of a car. The vehicle, traveling at low speed, struck the animal without seriously injuring it. Terrified, the dog ran off and disappeared into one of the nearby houses. The impact caused the bumper to crack. The driver did not feel like looking for the owner.
Several dogs roam this area. Apparently, some owners have previously received fines for failing to supervise their animals, but this has not changed the situation to this day.
Our female Reader called us to say that when she was walking past one of the properties on gen. Józefa Bema Street with a small child, a young mixed-breed dog easily jumped over the low fence. It was not aggressive, but the two-year-old was very frightened. The dog could leave the property without any difficulty.
On 1000-lecia Avenue, a large, well-cared-for dog was let out for a walk without its owner. The dog was wearing a muzzle and calmly sniffed around the area near Chumeda. It also crossed the busy street several times. It could not attack a person, but it could have been harmed if another dog without a muzzle had attacked it. Allowing a defenseless animal to roam free may expose it to danger.
That is what happened in the case of the dogs that attacked a bull terrier. Two aggressively disposed mixed-breed dogs began running toward the owner, who was walking a muzzled dog on a leash. Fearing that the two dogs would bite him and his dog, the man removed the muzzle from the bull terrier at the last moment. Both the bull terrier and the mixed-breed dog that attacked it were taken to a veterinarian with bite wounds. The incident resulted in an eye injury to the bull terrier, which, after being bitten, held its attacker in a vise-like grip with its teeth and fractured its jaw.
Readers who notified us about these incidents repeatedly said that in winter, in poor road conditions, a dog suddenly running out may be killed, but may also endanger the life or health of the vehicle owner or damage their property. Dog owners are obliged to ensure that their animals cannot freely escape from the property.
(information from Grażyna Hanaf)