Evidence piles up against dog in Yukon court battle

As advocates in Whitehorse prepare a last-ditch effort to save a dog that city officials say is dangerous, several people have come forward claiming the dog attacked them.

Trevor, a Rottweiler-German shepherd cross, is due to be put down at the city dog pound after being accused of biting several people. City officials deemed Trevor to be a dangerous dog, meaning the animal has to be put down.

But the Yukon Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday from advocates, including the Humane Society Yukon, which wants Trevor spared from euthanization and given a chance to be rehabilitated.

Staff members at the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter, run by the humane society, have maintained that Trevor never acted aggressively during his time in the shelter earlier this year.

'He just went berserk'

But court affidavits filed by people who know the dog suggest Trevor has attacked at least a half dozen people, with the most recent attack taking place in July.

"The attack was totally unprovoked from a dog that I thought was friendly. He just went berserk," Paul Sheridan, one of the individuals who filed affidavits against Trevor, told CBC News.

Sheridan said Trevor bit him last month, while he was visiting Matthew Allaby, the dog's owner at the time.

"I did not make any overt action toward the dog where he would feel that he was having to defend himself or his owner," he said.

"Like I say, it was totally unprovoked. I was stepping out of a truck when he attacked me."

Sheridan said he was severely bitten when he blocked the dog's attack with his forearm.

'Wild animal,' owner says of dog

That incident was the last straw for Allaby, who surrendered the dog to the city pound, according to an affidavit filed with the court.

In sworn statements, Allaby said Sheridan was the seventh friend or family member to be attacked by Trevor in just two months.

"He's fine one second, a wild animal the next," Allaby stated in court documents, describing Trevor's randomly aggressive behaviour.

Whitehorse bylaw officers rescued Trevor in January, after the dog was discovered with an undersized collar badly ingrown into his neck. Trevor was taken to the shelter, where staff and volunteers cared for him and described him as a friendly dog.

Trevor was adopted in May by Allaby's sister, who signed an adoption contract promising to return the dog to the shelter if she could not care for it.

But staff believe she gave Trevor to her brother, who claims he did not know about the dog's troubled past until after he called city bylaw officers to take Trevor off his hands.

Shelter neglected to warn adopters: city official

Whitehorse bylaw chief John Taylor said officials at the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter neglected to tell Trevor's new owners that the dog had bitten a child visitor to the shelter prior to his adoption.

Taylor said shelter staff not only ignored the city's orders to advise potential owners about that incident, but they also ignored orders to alert the city about Trevor's final placement.

The Yukon Humane Society must provide its submissions about the dog by Wednesday, in time for Thursday's court hearing.

In the meantime, Trevor remains at the city pound, where he's being kept under quarantine to ensure he's not rabid.