‘Warden refused to collect escaped Akita Inu dog’

Nov 21 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

COUNCIL workers refused to collect an escaped dangerous breed dog because it ‘wasn’t tied up’, it is claimed.

And the dog, an Akita Inu, chased a resident on Upper Quarry Road in Bradley – the morning after he had reported the animal loose.

The resident had called the Kirklees Council dog warden service after spotting the large dog dragging at 10ft chain along his cul-de-sac in the evening on November 15

But the warden service told the resident that it could not collect the Akita unless the dog was tethered so that it would definitely remain there until a warden arrived to take it away.

The following morning the resident – who does not want to be named – walked from his house towards his pick-up truck on his way to work when he spotted the same dog.

The dog then ran towards him and he fled in fear back into his house.

The Akita is a type of dog originally bred in Japan for hunting.

The breed, where a male dog can weigh up to 8st 7lbs, has a reputation for attacking strangers and other dogs.

In August, an Akita attacked a 13-year-old boy in Jubilee Park, Cowlersley, leaving him with bleeding on the ground with serious puncture wounds.

Following the attack an investigating police officer was also put in hospital by the out-of-control dog.