Dogs involved in vicious attack on local woman to be euthanized

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKRC) – The dogs that mauled a local woman are now scheduled to be euthanized.

The news came out of a Hamilton County Commission meeting on Tuesday, where commissioners grilled the head of animal control for an hour.

The attack happened late Friday afternoon, when a woman was trying to shoo some escaped dogs back to their yard. The dogs then dragged her to the ground and tore into her. That attack came about 10 weeks after a little girl in Roselawn died after getting attacked by her father's dogs.

“Tell me the rationale behind having the dogs returned to the home from which they got out to begin with? It perplexes me that we wouldn't say, instead of that, we're taking these dogs,” said Commissioner Denise Driehaus to Hamilton County Dog Warden Beth Ward.

Ward defended her staff's decision to leave the dogs that brutally attacked Emily Rentschler with their owners on a 10-day quarantine, instead of taking them into custody. Commissioner Alicia Reece read a letter written by the Colerain Township Board of Trustees to the County Commission.

“The Dog Warden staff cited to our officers that they felt that the dogs were, quote, too vicious to take in,” Reece said. “So instead, they left them behind.”

“Saying our officers refused to impound the animals because they were too aggressive. I want to note that with a heavy, bold underline that is incorrect. Our officers will not shirk their duty,” said Ward.

“So, all three commissioners said if I had been dog warden, I would have taken that dog. You had the discretion to do it. Why didn't you?” Local 12 asked Ward.

“In this particular situation, we looked at it, we evaluated it, and we explored all the different angles. We talked to the dog owners. We looked to ensure that the dogs could be quarantined safely at home,” Ward said.

“Nobody's doing their job. The dog warden is failing. He hasn't reached out to us at all. Is anybody going to tell us if these f—ing dogs have rabies shots or not? Because nobody has communicated that to us at all,” said Ryan Witko, fiancé of the woman who was mauled.

Witko said that the dog warden and Colerain Township's police chief should resign, and the owners of the dogs should be held criminally liable.

“Take accountability for your actions and your responsibilities,” Witko said of the dog owners. “Those are your animals. They got out, they f—ing attacked, and nearly murdered my fiancé.”

The county administrator and the dog warden now plan to come back to the commission with recommendations for improving the community's safety when it comes to dogs. One more piece of information came out of the commission's staff meeting—the dog warden said that the dogs that killed the 3-year-old Roselawn girl in December have now been euthanized. The owner of the dogs, her father, faces multiple charges, including reckless homicide.

The woman who was attacked last Friday said that she's going to need surgery to repair her arms. The dog owners have been cited. The dog warden also said that if the owners of the dogs don't euthanize their pets as they said they would, she will seek a judge's order to do so.