SUNDAY February
23 2014
FOCUS 3
This old house LIVE 13
Interrupted fairy tale SPORT 29
Royal father and son L o c a l N e w s . L o c a l M at t e r s
INTERACT WITH THE NEWS at N S N E W S .C O M
Pit bull attack raises concerns German shepherd recovering after being charged, bitten BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
A North Vancouver woman is in shock after her elderly dog was “torn to pieces” in an unprovoked attack by an off-leash pit bull. Lisa Granger and her 10year-old, partially crippled German shepherd Natasha were in the front yard on the 800-block of East 14th Street Thursday afternoon when the neighbour’s pit bull pushed through the fence. “She didn’t even know it was coming. She was sleeping in the sun in my yard and it charged through the fence,” Granger said. “She was a completely defenseless victim. . . It’s just the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. She lost chunks of leg down to
the bone.” It took five people — one of them using a spade — to pry the pit bull’s mouth open, to get the aggressive dog off. But it circled around and attacked Natasha again, Granger said. “The only thing that finally saved my dog was, when we got the pit bull off the second time, the owner had thrown herself on the dog and was screaming at us to get our dog out of there or it was going to go again. She couldn’t hold it,” Granger said. Three hours of surgery and a $3,000-vet bill later, Natasha is back at home but she can no longer stand up and will require constant care and daily trips back to the vet while she heals. Granger too suffered bites in the incident.
“My finger’s been sewn back together and I have massive bruising down the back of my legs and I have bruising down the inside of my left arm,” she said. RCMP officers attended the scene, but turned the matter over to the District of North Vancouver’s bylaw officers, who handle animal control issues. Granger then learned this is the second time the pit bull has attacked another dog. “It’s the second offence and they didn’t seize the dog. My vet was horrified,” Granger said. Officers told Granger the dog was only visiting the home next door, but that it spends most of its time with its other owner on Premier Street. While the bylaw investigation is expected to last a few more days, staff have contacted the pit bull’s owners. “We’ve given them See Owners page 8
West Vancouver budget calls for tax hike, utility increases ANNE WATSON awatson@nsnews.com
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Property owners inWest Vancouver could see a dent in their household budgets after council prepared to approve hikes to both property taxes and utility rates this week. The municipality’s budget, presented Feb. 17, showed an increase of almost three per cent to property taxes. The district’s financial
plan also included increases of 11 per cent to sewer rates and five per cent to water rates this year. Some council members defended the tax hike. Coun. Nora Gambioli said the municipality has passed two budgets in a row with no increase to tax rates. “I think that politically speaking perhaps we’re not very smart by having a 2.9 per cent increase in an election year — but then you
could also argue that we’re not trying to be political by actually digging down and having enough gumption to suggest a 2.92 increase in an election year.” Gambioli remarked that after reviewing municipal taxes on assessed values in other jurisdictions,West Vancouver taxpayers are still getting the best deal. “If you owned a piece See WestVan page 8