Sioux City councilman had sold his condemned Labrador before it was stolen from animal shelter

Sioux City, Iowa, city councilman Aaron Rochester apparently agreed to sell his condemned Labrador retriever, Jake, to a local businessman in the days before Jake was stolen from the animal shelter where he was being held.

The businessman, Lew Weinberg, told the Sioux City Journal that he arranged to buy Jake from Rochester for $1 on July 31.  The idea behind the sale, Weinberg said, was to try to save the dog's life through an appeal to district court. 

Rochester had told local media that he wouldn't continue to pursue the case after two local authorities -- Sioux City's police captain and a special arbiter -- sided with the animal control department, which labeled Jake "vicious" after he attacked a neighbor.  Rochester maintained that Jake was simply trying to protect Rochester's young daughter and a friend, who were playing nearby, from a perceived danger.  But Sioux City's dog rules are hard and fast, and they require that vicious dogs be killed as a matter of public safety.

The irony of the case lies in the fact that Rochester himself successfully lobbied last year to ban pit bulls in the city, alleging that the breed was the one most likely to attack humans.  His position was a decidedly delicate one, then, as he tried to persuade city officials to spare Jake's life. 

"I just felt that quite frankly the dog didn't deserve to be euthanized just because of who his owner was," Weinberg told the Journal of his attempt to buy Jake. "Aaron was kind of in a rough spot with regard to pursuing any correction in the ordinance that he helped develop."  Weinberg, he thought, could pursue avenues Rochester couldn't in his efforts to save the dog.

But before the transaction could be completed, Jake was stolen from the animal control facility where he was awaiting execution on Aug. 2.  No other animals were taken.  Police say they have no suspects in the burglary, which is apparently not the first one the shelter has seen; the facility "has never been adequate enough or secure enough," according to an animal control official.  (A newer, more secure shelter is expected to be complete within the next year.) 

Should the thief be found, he or she could face second- or third-degree burglary charges.  In a similar case, a Wyoming woman was recently sentenced to 45 days in jail for trying to free her dog -- in this case, a pit bull that had been deemed vicious -- from an animal shelter.  But in the Wyoming instance, the break-in attempt caused an alarm to go off, and police arrested the woman after a foot chase.

RELATED:
Iowa politician who pushed for pit bull ban seeks mercy for his Labrador

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: A screenshot of Aaron Rochester from a 2007 city council candidate-introduction video.  Credit: SiouxlandCommMedia via YouTube

Comments

[Delayre Kennel]

Well what goes around comes around. Is he going to ban Labs now ? Don't you love Karma

[betty brown]

yeah - karma got him, didn't it delayre? yep, a dog that might have done nothing more than behave the way dogs are programmed genetically to is going to be killed. now how in the heck does that equal karma?
i have a chow mix that in the past "attacked" 3 different people. each & every one of them had been forewarned that i was the only person who could reprimand him, that he considered a raised arm from anyone else as a threat to me. well, all 3 of these guy friends of mine thought i was exaggerating & jokingly raised their hands as if to swat him or me - and got attacked. thank god they all realized it wasn't my dog's fault.
my point is this: i can't tell from the above article, but there may have been many factors that put this dog into protective mode. did the neighbor come into a fenced in yard? did they come onto the property & quickly move straight towards the kids? etc. i find it horrible that so often these laws about dog bites have no grey area - the dog bites someone 1 time & it's instantly vicious.
sorry for such a long post - delayre's ridiculous take on this being "karma" when the dog's the one to suffer really irked me.