Iqaluit dog-attack victim alleges failed response to vicious pitbull

Annabella Piugattuk with her daughter Aqpakuluk, aged two. The Iqaluit mother was hospitalized for three weeks in July 2012 after she suffered 100 puncture wounds from a pitbull attack directed by her neighbour. Piugattuk hopes Iqaluit’s new responsible pet owner and sled dog bylaw will prevent the type of attack she endured, which left her family traumatized. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

Iqaluit city council heard a worst-case scenario of dog-control failure at a regular meeting, Aug. 13, when Annabella Piugattuk came forward to give her story for the city to consider as it sizes up a draft of its “Responsible Pet Owner and Sled Dog Bylaw,” tabled last month.

The 30-year-old mother described how she had been attacked at her home July 15, 2012, in front of her two young daughters by her neighbour’s pit bull. The attack left Piugattuk hospitalized for three weeks with dog-bite puncture wounds all over her body, she said.

“I was attacked for 20 minutes,” she told city council, her voice cracking as she gave way to tears. “My children were one and three at the time. They saw the attack. They are traumatized.

“We loved dogs. I still do. I tell them not all dogs are scary. It’s the owners that are scary. That makes the dog scary,” she said.

Piugattuk singled out pitbulls as a dangerous breed, “bred to kill,” which should be banned from Nunavut, and suggested all potential dog-owners should be subject to background checks before they’re allowed to adopt such animals as pets.

The dog-attack victim first made public her side of the story to Nunatsiaq News, stating that the dog-owner, her neighbour Saata Koochiajuke, 23, directed the pitbull to “attack” and “kill” her.

In court last year shortly after the attack, Koochiajuke pleaded guilty to multiple assault charges in relation to the incident, admitting that she directed her dog to attack her neighbour.

The woman also pleaded guilty to similar charges in relation to two earlier incidents involving different individuals. Piugattuk did not attend Koochiajuke’s hearing.

As she reported her story to council, Piugattuk called attention the Iqaluit Housing Authority’s apparent failure to uphold rules against ownership of new pets in its units, as well as failure by municipal enforcement to prevent repeated attacks from happening in the neighbourhood.

Piugattuk and her dog-owning neighbour lived in a row house building owned by the Iqaluit Housing Authority. She said Koochiajuke got the young pit bull after the two women had been neighbours for two years, and that the dog “was vicious, right off the bat.”

“Its poop was around near the steps of my stairs going to my apartment,” Piugattuk told council. “Sometimes we didn’t get home, because the dog was outside without supervision and without a muzzle. It would be leashed, but the leash was not even two feet from my stairs.”

She, her children and other neighbours feared the dog most when the neighbour was not home, and the dog left out on a leash.

“Children can’t go play out, because parents know that those kinds of dogs are vicious, even though the dog-owner will say ‘this is the nicest dog you’ll ever meet, he’s so gentle,’” Piugattuk said, singling out pitbulls.

“I was hospitalized for three weeks,” she said. “I had to move out of that building after I was attacked — I couldn’t go back there.

“I have insomnia now, my kids have bad dreams. My two-year-old says, ‘anaana, anaana, puppy no bite me.’ I tell her no, puppy won’t bite you, I got you.

“I have scars all over my body and when they itch. It’s a constant reminder that I almost lost my life because of a pitbull dog and her owner.”

Piugattuk said the pitbull breed should be banned from the territory, and suggested other non-native dogs should be as well.

“White people who come to Nunavut, they have dogs,” she said. “But what are we as Inuit to do. The government tried to wipe out our husky dogs. And now we welcome all kinds of breeds — Qallunaat dogs in our territory.”

She pointed to laws regulating dog breeds in Greenland as a possible example for Nunavut to follow, adding that she intends to start a petition calling for Nunavut huskies only in the territory.

All the same, the attack victim admitted that all dogs, including huskies, could be vicious, and hoped that new laws would include background checks on owners to keep them from falling into the hands of certain owners.

“I am still a dog-lover,” said Piugattuk. “I still try and tell my children that puppies and dogs are nice, except that we will have to watch the dog-owner. We need to have an assessment, a background check, a criminal record check, before they can own a vicious dog.”

City councillors said they were familiar with Piugattuk’s story. All five in attendance praised the young mother for her courage to talk about her traumatic experiences.

“Thank you for your presentation,” said Coun. Simon Nattaq. “We do want to hear more from the public about the subject.”

“When somebody expresses their concerns, were are more adamant about resolving what we want to achieve,” said Coun. Joanesie Akumalik. “This is what we really want to hear as councillors.”

Mayor John Graham agreed, adding that the city decided not to move forward with the bylaw, first presented July 10, “until we have heard from as many people as possible.”

More than half of the 38-page bylaw also covers sled dogs, and sled-dog owners will have a chance to give their views at a public consultation in late September, he said.