Judge Reverses Order: Karma Will Live!

By PAUL ANDERSON

Karma the wolf-dog will live.

An Orange County judge today overturned his previous ruling that the animal be euthanized and said Karma can be sent to a wolf sanctuary in North Carolina, despite animal control officials’ insistence the dog is vicious -- noting that it once killed two cats in an Anaheim neighborhood.

“Despite the nomenclature of ‘menacing’ or ‘vicious’ dogs, the court is actually addressing irresponsible pet ownership,” Judge Corey S. Cramin ruled. “Karma is as much a victim as the people and pets who were harmed by Karma.”

The ruling came two days after the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2, with Andrew Do and Shawn Nelson dissenting, to support placing Karma in the Full Moon Farm wolf sanctuary. The dog was deemed a wolf-dog hybrid by county animal-control officials, but attorney Christine Garcia, who represents Karma’s owners, said she has papers to prove he is a purebred Siberian Husky.

Cramin earlier ordered the dog be put to sleep, which prompted a petition signed by thousands of residents who want Karma spared.

Garcia told City News Service Tuesday she hoped the judge would return the animal to its owners, “but if that’s not possible we would like the dog to live out the rest of his life happy in a sanctuary.”

Garcia said “seven generations can be proven” in the dog’s lineage. Animal control officials viewed the dog as a hybrid, but Garcia said all Siberian Husky’s have wolf ancestry that will show up in tests.

“In fact, every dog is going to have some wolf in him, even a beagle,” Garcia said.

Garcia represents the owners, Joshua and Tiffany Ogle.

The county supervisors held a special meeting Monday on the 4-year-old dog’s fate. The move came after a contentious debate last week, when OC Animal Care Director Jennifer Hawkins, a veterinarian, stood by her designation of Karma as a vicious dog that should be put down. Spitzer said the board’s decision was not meant to overrule Hawkins’ ruling, but to find a home for the animal.

Orange County Board Chairman Todd Spitzer’s motion to place the dog with the Wolf Mountain Sanctuary in Lucerne Valley last week failed when no one would second the move.

In part, Hawkins declared the dog was vicious because it once killed two cats in Anaheim. It was impounded in May when its owners were arrested in a domestic violence dispute, and the couple’s four children -- ranging in age from infant to 8 years old -- were placed at the Orangewood Children’s Home, Spitzer said.

After Karma was impounded, OC Animal Care officials determined the husky was part-wolf and could not be properly vaccinated against rabies. They also noted that the animal in 2012 killed two cats in its Anaheim neighborhood while roaming free, demonstrating that it is a vicious animal.

At last week’s board meeting, Spitzer argued that the dog was “neglected and not fed,” prompting it to hunt down the two cats.

“So hungry dog, neglected by drug users, gets out and does what it is trained to do -- goes after a cat just like Wile E. Coyote,” Spitzer said.

Hawkins said such behavior isn’t acceptable.

“It’s not common for dogs to be killing cats -- that is why this (vicious dog) code exists,” she said.

Hawkins conceded that it was a “tough call” to decide the dog’s fate, but she insisted the animal poses a threat to the public and needs to be put to sleep. Hawkins cited a separate incident in which the dog aggressively ran at a woman carrying a child.

“She had to throw water (at the dog) and run and try to get away from the dog,” Hawkins said.

Although Spitzer contended the dog did not knock down the woman or bite or attack the children, Hawkins insisted that “in my professional opinion, that is very close to being aggressive.”

Nelson blasted Spitzer for wanting to go against the advice of the county’s professional animal care director -- as well as the judge who sided with Hawkins on the dog’s viciousness.

City News Service