Patch Poll: Should a Killer Dog Be Put Down?

A week after authorities blamed a pet husky for biting and killing its owner's infant son, a judge has ordered a dog warden to seize, quarantine and euthanize the dog within 10 days.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski issued the order on Thursday. The dog will be put down unless its owner appeals the ruling. A dog warden seized the dog later in the day, according to Mike Manko, spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.

The dog—called Nikko, Nico or Halo—mauled newborn Howard Nicholson Feb. 16 after the child's mother, Brandy Furlong, left the infant in a carrier on the living-room floor in their McKeesport home. When she returned to the room, the baby was bleeding from a severe head wound and the dog's snout was bloody, authorities said. 

The baby died at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. His death spurred renewed interest throughout Western Pennsylvania in pet-safety classes, including the Animal Friends to prepare families planning to bring babies into homes with dogs.

McKeesport Animal Control Officer Ken Feree removed the husky from Furlong's home after the baby's death and turned it over to a Churchhill man, according to Borkowski's order. The judge, however, ordered the dog warden to retrieve and quarantine the dog until issues of a potential appeal and dog-law violations are resolved. To read the judge's order, click on the media with this article.

What do you think should happen to this dog?

Some animal-rights experts and dog trainers have suggested the dog was in its mouth as it would its own offspring. Others say they believe the dog, if spared, can be trained to live safely with humans.

Still others believe that is just too risky. Once a killer, always a killer, they assert.

What do you think?