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And judging by the track record of Joel Harden, the man who owns the killer canines, they have every right to be. Legal records show that Harden was found guilty in 2007 of failing to keep his dogs contained and confined properly. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to animal abuse, and between 2004 and 2005 he was issued a string of dog nuisance violations.
All of those violations were fairly minor occurrences, that is, until the events of June 8. Devon resident Brett Bailey was walking his dog about 50 feet from his house when two pit bulls, one black and one white, came up to his dog, Molly, and attacked her for 10 minutes. When he tried to defend her, the pit bulls attacked him, he said. Molly, a 13-year-old black mutt, died of a spinal cord injury at a veterinarian's office later that evening.
Tredyffrin police charged Harden with two counts each of failure to confine dogs and killing/inflicting serious injury to a domestic animal. They also confiscated the dogs for 10 days of rabies observation. But earlier this week, police gave Harden his dogs back, angering residents, and leaving us baffled.
We've never met Joel Harden, but we're pretty sure he has no right even petting a dog, let alone owning one. He opted not to call us back when we called him to ask for an explanation, and that's his right. But pet ownership is a serious responsibility, and Harden has already more than proven he's not up to the challenge.
We sympathize with residents who live nearby and we strongly question why authorities returned these dogs to a man who obviously has no interest in their well-being. We understand that there are limits to what can and can't be done under state law, but at the very last we hope the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has taken notice of the situation and acts accordingly.
In the meantime, we'll be crossing our fingers that this is the last time we read about Joel Harden's dogs on our pages.
