• Dog has bitten at least two other people

Hiroshi and Seiko Ikuma’sdog, Ato, is on the canine equivalent of death row.

Every day, the Ann Arbor couple visits Ato (pronounced Otto) at the local Humane Society where he remains confined while they appeal a judge's order that the dog should be destroyed. Calling it a miscarriage of justice, the Ikumas say Ato shouldn’t be put to death for doing what is instinctive – protecting its property from an intruder.

But the parents of the teen-age boy the chow attacked a year and a half ago say the Ikumas need to accept their dog is a menace and should be destroyed. In addition to their son, they say, the dog has bitten at least two other people, including a dog trainer hired to evaluate its temperament.

Weighing in on either side of the case are the city of Ann Arbor, which wants the dog destroyed, and a Macomb County law firm that specializes in defending animals and which vows to "appeal to the highest level we can on behalf of this innocent animal."

The Ikumas have been waging a legal battle to save their dog ever since it attacked Alex Newton, who was delivering a Sunday newspaper to their home as a substitute carrier on Aug. 23, 1998. The boy, who was 13 at the time, suffered several bites that required 13 stitches, according to court records.

Following a hearing in October, District Judge Julie Creal Goodridge ordered the dog destroyed.

The Ikumas’lawyer, Donald N. Perkins, chairman of Macomb County Attorneys for Animals, filed an appeal last week in Washtenaw County Circuit Court asking for Goodridge’s decision to be overturned. The Macomb County Attorneys for Animals, Perkins said, is a new organization of lawyers interested in advancing the protection and rights of animals.

"The district Court was completely wrong, both morally and legally, to order this innocent dog to be destroyed," said Perkins. "Michigan law rightfully protects a dog who bites when confronted with a trespasser or when tormented, provoked, or acting to defend its family from threat of harm."

Alex Newton’s parents, Roger and Coco Newton of Ann Arbor, said having to go through the case all over again will be another disruption for their family.

"It was validating for Alex when the judge ruled about the dog," said Coco Newton. "We put this on the back burner when the hearing was over, but now it’s hitting us again and it’s very disruptive. Our first priority is that this dog goes down. That dog is going to kill somebody one day and people shouldn’t have to live in fear."

"We’re amazed that it’s gone to this long and that the Ikumas are unwilling to accept the fact that they have an animal that’s a menace to society," Roger Newton said. "I can’t believe they haven’t taken responsibility for this."

The appeal has been assigned to Circuit Judge Donald E. Shelton.

The city attorney’s office said it has until March 17 to file a response to Perkins’ brief. After that, Shelton will hear oral arguments on the matter.

Seiko Ikuma said she and her husband visit the 7-year-old chow daily at the Humane Society of Huron Valley, where the dog is confined by court order.

"I’m awfully sorry for this miscarriage of justice," Seiko Ikuma said. "This was a political trial."

After Ato bit Alex Newton, the dog was confined to a kennel in Dexter and the city charged Ikuma with harboring a vicious animal, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. A jury acquitted her of the criminal charge in December 1998.

The boy testified during the trial that he was substituting for the regular Ann Arbor News carrier on the day he was attacked. He said that the regular door to the Ikuma residence was open and he had slipped the paper inside the storm door when the dog, which was inside, began barking and ran toward the door.

The dog began leaping against the storm door, pushing it open and allowing it to escape, the boy said. Alex testified he started running away but the dog chased him, knocked him down and bit him on forearm, buttocks and the back of his left leg.

Alex’s father, who was nearby at the time of the attack, testified that he heard his son screaming and grabbed Ato by the neck to get the dog off his son. About that time, Seiko Ikuma, got the dog and took it back to the house. Roger Newton took his son to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. According to medical testimony, the teen’s wounds required 13 stitches.

After Ikuma was acquitted of the criminal charge, the city filed a petition to have the dog destroyed under two Michigan laws pertaining to dogs and dangerous animals.

At the hearing in October, the city contended the dog was dangerous because, besides Alex Newton, it had bitten two other people, including a professional dog trainer hired to evaluate the dog’s temperament.

The Ikumas contended that the boy was trespassing and provoked their dog when he placed the newspaper inside the house. They said the dog responded in a manner to protect the owner.

In her Oct. 15, four-page opinion which ordered the dog destroyed, Goodridge wrote that Alex Newton was not knowingly trespassing." . . . delivering the newspaper the newspaper in the manner in which he delivered it, was not a ‘willful act . . . likely to precipitate the bite or attack by an ordinary animal’ . . . Ato’s behavior in this instance was with a ferocity in excess of that needed to reasonably protect the Ikumas," the judge said.

Perkins called Goodridge’s opinion "misguided," and maintains that Alex Newton was trespassing. "We are confident we will win this issue," Perkins said.

1. On Mr. Newton, Trespass, and Parental Responsibility

I don't know about you, but I for one am saddened by Mr. Newton's unwillingness to accept parental responsibility for the FACT established by Judge Goodridge that his son TRESPASSED into the Ikumas' home. The inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the judge's finding, sir, is that you appear to have raised a son incapable of understanding (1) that it is WRONG to trespass and (2) that if you do something WRONG, you must accept the consequences of your own behavior.

(In terms of consequences: Otto let the boy off very lightly. Were this beefy Chow Chow  truly vicious, he would have torn the boy--AND his father--to shreds. The hospital records (which I have seen) show clearly that the boy was not in trauma and his wounds were superficial. Has it not occurred to Mr. Newton to wonder why Otto allowed Mr. Newton to pull him off Alex, without attacking him also? Mr. Newton does not know how fortunate he was to have been dealing with Otto, whose reaction was calm and measured to the perceived threat from the trespasser. Many another dog would have gotten into a frenzy and done much more damage.)

Judge Goodridge found that while the 13-year-old had indeed trespassed, he did not KNOW he was trespassing when he walked inside a stranger's house univited. Under what circusmstances, it seems then reasonable to ask, would a teenager NOT know it was wrong to trespass? Only two answers spring to mind: Either the teen is retarded, or his parents never TAUGHT him that trespass is wrong.

2. On the Ann Arbor News, Trespass, and Responsibilkity

It seems to me also that the Ann Arbor News might be well advised to look to its defenses. The tesimony presented by its representative during the first trial, at which Mrs. Ikuma was found NOT GUILTY by a JURY of harboring a viciois dog, seems to me to indicate that the News may NOT have adequately trained its carriers in the matter of trespass, and that it too should bear some of the responsibility for the pain and suffering inflicted on the Ikumas and their pet by the Newton boy and his father.

3. On the Huron Valley Humane Society and the Meaning of "Humane"

While all of this is going on, it seems the Director of the Huron Valley so-called "Humane" Society has been harrassing the Ikumas because a Detroit TV news crew paid the Society's squalid Death Row a visit last week (March 2, 2000, I think) and broadcast video of the squalor all over mid-Michigan on the 10 o'clock news. The Ikumas told me about a harrasing call from the HVHS Director after the broadcast, and the next day, when the Ikumas made their daily visit to feed, clean, and water Otto, they were LOCKED INSIDE the small cage with him for an hour. HVHS's Death Row is in an isolated part of the facility, and given the general commotion that is present in all kennels, if anything had happened to this elderly couple during that hour their cries would not have been heard.

It strikes me there is more than just pettiness in all of this. There is something intensely sinister, and possibly illegal. Let's help the Ikumas in their fight against inhumanity and injustice. Call, write, fax, or send email to the folks in this list, and let them know you support the Ikumas and demand justice and freedom for their innocent pet.