A pit bull who stood by her injured owner while their house was on fire is now losing her home – not to the fire itself, but to a law prohibiting pit bulls from living in the county. Firefighters say they had trouble getting to one of the two people injured in the fire because the man’s dog was standing over him.
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“She always been like that”, said April Newell, dog owner.
Because of PG County’s breed ban, however, the two pit bulls must “be taken outside the county”, Rodney Taylor, Prince George’s County’s animal services facility association director, told The Huffington Post.
“My heart broke, it melted when I saw that”, said Sandra Hamorsky, Maryland Dog Federation.
There are no plans to press charges against the dog’s owners considering the circumstances, but owning a pitbull in Prince George’s County is a criminal offense which can warrant 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Hamorsky, the spokesperson for the Maryland Dog Federation, is fighting to get the ban lifted. “And when you look at the video, you have a dog doing what any dog would do, and that’s protect its owner”, said Hamorsky. Animal control officers took the two adult dogs, several puppies and two turtles from the scene.
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Newell will be picking up Previous Thursday, and then looking for a new place to stay. Fire officials do not believe the home had smoke detectors.
