MANSFIELD — A female probation officer with the Richland County Juvenile Court was bitten by a pit bull dog last Thursday during a home visit.
According to an incident report from Richland Public Health, the probation officer was bitten around 3:45 p.m. on Dec. 15 at a home on 4th Street in Mansfield. The dog was described as a male blue-grey pit bull mix by the name of Chance.
“The victim said she has known the client’s dog since it was a puppy, always friendly,” said Richland Public Health Educator Reed Richmond. “She was surprised that she actually got bitten.”
The officer received treatment for the bite at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital. Richland County Juvenile Court Administrator Michael Casto said he spoke with the probation officer after the bite and that “she seems to be recovering.”
The incident was reported on Dec. 20 to the county’s risk management program for a worker’s compensation claim for medical bills. Lu Blankenship, with the county, said the bite caused the probation officer to get a tetanus shot and left her with puncture wounds.
“The adult dogs met the officer at the door which was not unusual; however, when the two puppies entered the room, the male dog went around behind the officer and started biting,” Blankenship said via email.
According to Richmond, the victim was bitten in the left calf and right thigh. Per county protocol, any dog bite is to be reported to the health department, partly to help control for rabies.
“Rabies used to be a major incident across the entire United States; to try to keep incidents from happening in humans, animal bites have always been reported to health departments,” Richmond said. “We try to make sure any domestic animal bite is investigated to see if the animal might have rabies, and if they’ve transferred the rabies to humans. The protocol is for containment and observation of the animal.”
Richland Public Health Sanitarian Ben Mutti said the pit bull mix is currently under a 10-day quarantine to observe for rabies, a period that is required by state law. Mutti said his office typically performs an initial observation post-bite, then an additional observation 10 days later.
“If the animal has no symptoms of rabies and if the animal is current on its shots, we release the animal,” Mutti said. “The quarantine period is based on the onset of rabies symptoms; detectable between eight and 10 days. If it’s not sick within 10 days it does not have the rabies virus.”
Richland Public Health has responded to 617 investigations, inspections and consultations for the year 2016. To date, Mutti said there have been a total of 322 bite incidents and subsequent rabies investigations.
“We send rabies specimens in to be tested where we don’t have the luxury of a 10-day quarantine, and for 2016 we’ve had 29 rabies submissions including stray cats, bats, raccoons, skunk, a cow, and several dogs,” Mutti said. “We haven’t had any specimens confirmed positive for rabies; the last confirmed case in Richland County was for a bat in 2007.”
As of Dec. 20, the Richland County Dog Warden had yet to receive a report of the Dec. 15 dog bite incident.
“Any dog bite should be reported to us, for sure,” Deputy Dog Warden Aaron Frasher said Tuesday.
Frasher said dog bites are usually inspected by the county’s health department. The inspection determines why the dog bit its victim, whether the dog was under control and whether it was provoked. The health department then determines if the dog is deemed dangerous, said Frasher.
However, according to Mutti, the dog warden is the one responsible for determining whether a dog is deemed dangerous.
“The dog warden is the only officer in the county that can deem a dog vicious or non-vicious, and dangerous or non-dangerous,” Mutti said. “There is criteria the dog warden uses, because it’s a classification that has repercussions.”
Further discussion
Mansfield law prohibits a pit bull from being within the city. City council is currently reviewing the possibility of rewriting the antiquated dog laws, said Law Director John Spon.
The law director has been vocal during recent city council meetings for the creation of a city animal control officer.
Implementing an animal control officer is expected, by the idea’s proponents, to alleviate Mansfield Police Department’s responses to calls involving animals in the city. MPD responded to 720 complaints involving animals in 2015.
A Richland Source story reported in November that the total number of incidents the county responded to amounted to 2,052 in 2015.
Spon cited information gathered by the Richland County Dog Warden in a Nov. 15 safety committee meeting that showed an “exponential increase” in pit bull-type dogs in the county.
The probation officer’s bite incident occurred just five days after a pit bull was shot and killed by a Shelby Police officer when it attacked the dog owner’s boyfriend in their Shelby home.
