A B.C. Supreme Court Justice has granted a Mackenzie dog a reprieve from being put down.
In a reasons for judgment issued Monday, Justice Ron Tindale ordered a new hearing for Spartan after he found a provincial court judge who heard the original case should have given the defendants an opportunity to hear from a witness who could have changed the outcome.
In September 2015, the judge, whose name is not provided in Tindale's judgment, had ordered that Spartan be "humanely euthanized by a veterinarian" and his owners, Mitch Mortenson and Tammy Gibson, pay $4,000 in costs.
In reaching the decision, the judge relied heavily on the testimony of an expert witness, Lisbeth Plant, who is qualified to provide evidence on assessing and dealing with aggressive dog behaviour.
In March 2015, the District of Mackenzie's animal control service launched an investigation after Spartan bit a four-year-old boy Gibson was babysitting in her home. He suffered puncture wounds to his head and bruising around parts of his face but he did not require stitches.
Spartan, who was about one year old at the time, had also nipped the same child roughly six months before. "Apparently, Spartan was trying to eat his food when this occurred," Tindale noted.
At the beginning of the hearing, counsel for the District said they were going to call Barb Hall, an animal control officer, to testify but then changed their mind. When Mortenson said he needed to ask Hall some questions, the judge denied his request, concluding her testimony would be "too peripheral" to the immediate issue.
But Tindale disagreed, noting that Hall "was the animal control officer who spent the most time with Spartan and observed him while he was in the District's kennel compound.
"In my view, she potentially had evidence as to any changes in Spartan's behaviour from the time that he was placed in the respondent's kennel compound until he was assessed by Ms. Plant."
As such Hall had "potentially material evidence to give with regard to the issue of what should happen with Spartan."
