University Place won’t impound pit bulls after neighbor’s dog attacked

A Pierce County man whose beloved dog was found badly
injured is heartbroken and furious after learning he’d
been attacked by his neighbor’s two pit bulls. And the
University Place dog owner can’t understand why the city
won’t do anything about it.

When he came home from church on a recent Sunday, Jim
Zurfluh realized his miniature Australian Shepherd was
missing. It turns out the dog had been taken to an
emergency veterinary hospital and then sent to the Humane
Society as a stray. He was identified the next day through
a microchip.

When a staffer called, Zurfluh went to bring their dog Shadow
home. “Our dog was bloodied and cut up, he’d been shaved
for them to treat the injuries, he was literally throwing
up and he was in serious pain and wheezing,” said Zurfluh.

Neighbors reported they’d heard a commotion on Sunday
where the pit bulls live and called 911.

“And we know that they witnessed the owners of the dogs
running into the house to get a bowl of water and we know
they witnessed her carrying our dog to their car, bloodied
up and driving away to the vet hospital,” said Zurfluh.

He filed a complaint that Monday with University Place
animal control, concerned that the neighbor dogs might
hurt somebody. But the city attorney quickly concluded
there was not enough evidence to impound the neighbor
dogs. Although neighbors heard the commotion, there were
no witnesses.

“The dog that was injured was a stray dog and it was
injured during the time it was stray,” said University
Place city attorney Steve Victor. “We don’t have any clear
facts as to how it became injured.”

Even if the pit bulls did attack his dog, there’s a good
chance it happened on the neighbor’s property because
Zurfluh admits Shadow got loose that Sunday as the family
was getting ready to go to church.

“The speculation on the part of the dog’s owner is that
the dog, while stray, entered another University Place
resident’s yard and potentially their house and when in
the other person’s house, fought with the dogs there,”
said Victor.

It also appears an owner of the pit bulls drove the
injured animal to a veterinary hospital for treatment.

Victor said he’s sympathetic to the Zurfluh family,
calling this a “very unfortunate matter.” But based on
those facts, “there’s not a basis to determine there’s a
threat to public safety that would justify us to
take action against the dogs,” said Victor.

Zurfluh is not satisfied. He thinks the dogs are
dangerous.

“We truly believe that our dog took the fall for
potentially a much bigger, dangerous problem. There are
four children under the age of 7 that play within 10 feet
of his fence. We just want the city to understand the
urgency. If this had been a child, would the city have
acted much faster?” asked Zurfluh.

The city attorney has invited Zurfluh to meet with
him next week to offer any other information or evidence.

Ten days after the attack, Shadow is still getting
treatment and has not returned home.