Dog Escape Artist

Determined dog stuns animal control officers
(4/06/06 - VIRGINIA BEACH, VA) - An American bulldog that had escaped from a kennel by scaling a 7-foot concrete wall topped with barbed wire was found Wednesday night, Animal Control Bureau officials said.

Rosco chewed and bent the latch on his outdoor pen, enabling him to push open the door and escape over the wall on Tuesday. Police and animal control officers continued to search for Rosco Wednesday until he was caught at 6:30 p.m. in a lake about four miles from the kennel, said Wayne Gilbert, superintendent for animal control.


Gilbert said Rosco was captured without incident, was "extremely exhausted" and wasn't aggressive toward the officers. After being seen by a veterinarian, Rosco was placed back in a reinforced kennel with a padlock.


"Given his history, we wanted to make sure that door can't pop open," Gilbert said.


The dog was brought to the kennel Sunday because it had jumped over a fence into a yard and attacked another dog, said Steve Snyder, an animal control supervisor. The owner was charged with having a dangerous dog, he said.


A female companion American bulldog that was with Rosco at the time also was taken into custody and remained at the kennel, Snyder said.


This is the first time a dog has escaped from the animal control kennel by going over the wall, he said.


After escaping from his pen, Snyder said, Rosco must have jumped high enough to get a foothold on top of the wall and squeezed through the barbed wire.


"He got out, climbed over the fence and said, 'See ya,' " Snyder said.