For anyone with time, an interest and Internet access, it doesn't take long to find

   a trail of dog attacks across the country.  For example, just 10 days before

   82-year-old Alice Broom of Citra was mauled to death by a pack of dogs,

   belonging to a neighbor, Jennifer Brooke, 40, suffered the same fate thousands

   of miles away in Denver, Colorado.

   Brooke was attacked and killed as she went to a barn to look after her horses.

   Broom was set upon by a pack of dogs after returning home from a friend's home.
 

   Both were gruesome attacks and deaths that no one should have to worry about,

   much less suffer.  In both cases, authorities had received complaints from

   neighbors.  In fact, those affected in an area of rolling hills, southeast of Denver,

   had established an emergency network, warning each other by phone

   whenever the dogs were loose and roaming.
 

   For anyone who has not witnessed an aggressive attack by a dog or dogs, it's a

   scene similar to filmed wildlife scenes. The animals' inherent wild instincts seem

   to surface. If it's a lone dog, it leaps at its prey's throat and holds on tight. If it's a

   pack, they work as a team to drag their victim down. If the attack is not

   witnessed and quickly abated by outside help, the victim is doomed.  Such

   animals are often in such a frenzy that they turn on those trying to help the

   victim. In the Denver incident, law enforcement officers who were called to

   the scene were charged by the pack of dogs.
 

   In Denver, the owners of the dogs involved in the attack could face charges

   ranging from a misdemeanor to negligent homicide.  The Marion County Sheriff's

   Office is currently doing a criminal investigation of Broom's death and the owner of 

   the dogs involved in the attack, Robert Freeman, 62. Six of the 13 dogs living in

   his mobile home seem to have been involved in the fatal attack and are in

   custody. The remaining seven, which include a female with pups,

   remain in Freeman's possession.
 

   Such tragedies often lead to finger pointing.
 

   This case is no exception. Neighbors and members of Broom's family are

   blaming the county's Code Enforcement Department for not removing the animals

   after receiving several earlier reports of the dogs biting people and attacking other

   dogs. But, code enforcement officials claim they were following county laws that

   required two sworn complaints of attacks on other animals or people. Though

   there were several reports from neighbors, only one person swore out a complaint.

   Code Enforcement's hands were seemingly tied.  It could be argued that

   Freeman used poor judgment in keeping 13 dogs in his mobile home. Furthermore,

   there appears to have been a history of the dogs getting out, running free and

   terrorizing the neighborhood. Law enforcement officers will surely want to

   learn why these dogs were so aggressive.
 

   There are thousands of pit bull owners who swear by the gentle, sweet nature

   of these dogs, provided they're not conditioned to be mean and violent.

   Freeman has offered the weak excuse that neighborhood children teased his dogs.

   The county clearly needs to address local laws concerning potentially vicious

   animals, the number of dogs a resident can keep on their property, responses

   to complaints from residents about menacing animals and its lack of fencing laws.

   The county has a leash law requiring dogs be leashed and under adult supervision

   when off the owner's property. But dogs need not be on a leash when on their

   owner's property - fence or no fence. No fence, no control.

   We don't advocate that various dog breeds, perceived as aggressive, be

   outlawed. What is needed, however, is a tightening 

   of laws to protect the public from dangerous domestic animals in our

   increasingly populated, even urban, community. Dogs,

   especially large, are powerful animals that, if bite or attack, should be

   removed and put down - period. Such animals are simply too unpredictable

   and dangerous.  The county also needs to consider limiting the number of

   dogs and cats a homeowner can keep, with certain exceptions

   - for example, breeders.
 

   Officials are always hesitant to regulate what we fondly refer to as

   man's best friend. But the tragic story of Alice Broom also

   shows when animal control laws are too lenient dogs become

   man's worst enemy, and people die.

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