Correction note: an earlier version of this article listed the date of the next Community and Emergency Services Committee meeting later this month. While this date was correct, the previous wording may have indicated that this matter would be addressed at that meeting. However, the Animal Services Advisory Board, which does not meet again until February, must meet before offering any proposals for that committee to consider.
Since 11-year-old Justin Gilstrap was attacked by three pit bulls on Jan. 6, leaving him hospitalized, both the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and Columbia County administration have been examining the matter further, including the responses of Animal Services to previous complaints, said county manager Scott Johnson.
“We have gotten dozens of reports about loose dogs in this subdivision over the years,” said Johnson, regarding the Rolling Meadows subdivision in Appling, where the attack took place. “And we have responded each time.”
The dogs’ owner, Burt Baker III, has been arrested for reckless conduct. According to the county, Animal Services and the Sheriff’s Office have responded to previous complaints about dogs owned by Baker, particularly in three incidents.
On Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, the Sheriff’s Office responded to a report by Kelly Aguilar, who is an aunt of Justin Gilstrap, that her own dog, a smaller animal, had been attacked by another, loose dog. The following day, the Sheriff’s Office had forwarded its report of the incident to Animal Services, who called Aguilar by phone to investigate further. Aguilar told Animal Services that she was at work, and would call back.
By Jan. 4, 2022, Aguilar had not yet followed back up with the county. Animal Services contacted her again, and offered to email her a statement form to fill out, which she accepted.
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The day after that, on Jan. 5, reports say, representatives of Animal Control went out to the neighborhood to see if any dogs were roaming loose and to visit Aguilar. They did not find any roaming dogs, and Aguilar was not home during the time of their visit. As Aguilar had not sent a statement, the county closed the case on Jan. 6.
Johnson notes that, at this point, neither Aguilar nor the county suspected the dog in this incident belonged to Baker.
A few days later, on Jan. 12, Aguilar reported two dogs roaming in the subdivision, one of which was the one who attacked her animal 10 days before.
This time, Animal Services returned to the neighborhood to find the dogs in Baker’s yard. They issued him a warning for allowing his dogs to run at large, gave him seven days to provide proof of rabies vaccination for all his dogs, and also issued a warning for the attack on Aguilar’s pet.
Under Georgia state law, a dog is not considered “dangerous” unless it “inflicts a severe injury on a human being without provocation,” or “aggressively bites, attacks or endangers the safety of humans without provocation.” Likewise, a “vicious dog” is one that “inflicts serious injury on a person or causes serious injury to a person resulting from reasonable attempts to escape from the dog’s attack.”
Baker ultimately complied, presenting proof of rabies vaccination to the county.
On the morning of July 1, 2022, the county received complaints from two separate individuals, unrelated to the Gilstraps, about dogs roaming the same neighborhood. Animal Services visited the area and found two dogs in the middle of the road, scanned them for microchips, and took them to be impounded. Later that afternoon, Baker went to the Animal Services building and identified one of the impounded animals as his own. Animal Services returned the dog to Baker and issued him a violation notice for having let it roam.
Johnson also notes that the July 2022 incident was only the second such notice that Baker had received for loose dogs.
“Third time, depending on the severity of it, you might get a citation for it and have to go to court,” he said. “Fourth time, you’re absolutely going to get a citation for it, and you’re going to go to court. So, it’s a progressive thing with us.”
There were no other complaints about Baker’s dogs after the citation in July until the attack on Gilstrap on Jan. 6, the county says.
“No signs of aggression, no attacks on anybody, no other issues with his dogs that we have records of,” Johnson said.
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Apart from the Sheriff’s Office’s ongoing investigation of the incident, county administration has given Baker 15 citations, including three for the dog attack.
Baker voluntarily surrendered all seven of his dogs, which includes three adult pit bulls, one pit bull mix and three mixed puppies. Animal Services has all the animals impounded.
The county is now in the process of determining what to do with the dogs. First thing to discern, Johnson said, is which of the dogs were actually involved in the attack.
“We have to keep the dogs for a certain period of time according to the state law,” Johnson said. After that, the county must decide whether the dogs must be euthanized.
The Animal Services Advisory Board can propose any new protocols, rules or procedures regarding animal control to the county. Any such proposals, before being brought before the Board of Commissioners, would be heard by the Community Emergency Services Committee.
“In the heat of the moment, it’s difficult to legislate,” said Johnson about the prospect of any updates of Animal Services procedures that would entail more stringent policies about dogs roaming loose. “For us to pass some very draconian laws, or even stiff rules, right on the heels of of a very tragic incident, I’m not sure that it would prevent it from happening again, because I’m not sure we would probably address it. So, we need to make sure that we’re looking at it in total, to make sure that we’re doing what’s best for the whole community.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
