Julie Roberts is allowed to visit her four Siberian huskies 15 minutes a day. Broward Animal Care and Regulation took her dogs into custody and under a new Broward County ordinance, the dogs could be put to death.
“We sympathize with the family and we never meant for any of this to happen, but please help me bring my dogs home,” Roberts told Local 10’s Jeff Weinsier.
On Monday, Chloe, Ivy, Dimerland and Champion got out of their Miramar house and allegedly attacked and killed a terrier named Tinkerbell.
“These dogs are not running around the neighborhood like a pack of wild animals. This was an accident and that will come out if and when a hearing occurs,” said Roberts’ attorney, Jason Wandner
A Broward County ordinance says if a dog kills or seriously harms another, it can be put down after that first incident.
On Friday, members of the South Florida Husky Rescue, an organization that helps find homes for abused, neglected and abandoned purebred Siberian huskies, protested outside Broward Animal Care and Regulation saying the ordinance is unjust.
“State law gives a dog a second chance. If a dog is deemed dangerous and then bites someone, it can be destroyed, but Broward has taken that away,” said Jan Michael Morris, the attorney for South Florida Siberian Husky Rescue. “Is this a situation where this family and these dogs lost their right to live because of this horrible accident? That’s what this law suggests.”
“They are not vicious animals. They are not dangerous. Everyone in my neighborhood knows my dogs. They come to visit my dogs and interact with my dogs,” Roberts said.
“It’s sad for all parties concerned, for the owners of Tinkerbell, as well as for the owners of these dogs, Said Lisa Mendheim of Broward Animal Care and Regulation. But that’s for a hearing to determine what the outcome should be.