The woman, who does not want to be named and photographed, met a dog on a long leash when she had come out of an underpass. The dog was aggressive and jumped up at her and bit her upper arm. She tells SVT that the owner did not have a chance to stop the dog because of the long leash.
She reported the attack to the police and last summer the dog owner received a penalty order for causing bodily harm and lack of supervision of his dog and had to pay damages.
Just talked to the dog owner
But the county administrative board, which has the responsibility to assess the risk of whether it could happen again, dropped the investigation after talking to the dog owner. However, the affected woman, who believes that the dog owner is lying on several points, was not contacted.
– I would never run against the dog with flapping arms, as the dog owner claims, and the running line was at least five or six meters and not just two meters, she tells SVT Jönköping.
“Can’t assume that everyone is lying”
But the unit manager for veterinary and animal protection at the county administrative board, Johanna Hedén, does not agree that they had a one-sided view of the incident when they closed the case without action.
– We had read her report and then it is impossible for us to determine who is telling the truth. I have full confidence that my case managers make sure they have enough information to make their decisions, she says.
The woman says she often sees the pet owner handling their dog in the same way. Were you too gullible to just buy the explanation?
– We cannot assume that everyone is lying. We have made that assessment based on the information we had.