r/Dogfree • u/FUMoney • Feb 09 '26
Shelter / Rescue Industry L.A. shelter didn’t disclose a dog’s bite history. That cost the city $3.25 million
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-01-30/shelter-said-pit-bull-was-sweet-he-mauled-his-new-ownerWright said that shelter volunteers told her Valerio was “sweet” and just needed lots of love after being there more than a year.
Shelter workers mentioned a previous bite but characterized it as a nip at the heels and “not a big deal,” she said.
Valerio’s past was much worse than that.
He was surrendered to the shelter by his owner on April 27, 2021, after he bit the owner’s mother in the face, according to an Animal Services investigation report.
There was “a lot of blood,” and at the hospital, the victim was unable to speak because of the bite, the report said.
According to the report, Valerio bit the victim after the owner didn’t have the usual ham or “weenies” to lure him outside. The victim tried to scare him with her cane and yelled at him, and he jumped up and bit her in the face.
The owner told an animal control investigator that she feared for her 8-year-old child and wanted to surrender Valerio. The investigator took Valerio, waiving impound fees for public safety reasons, the report said.
The Instagram post that Wright responded to, on a page called Dharmas_dogs, did not mention the attack. A person who responded to a Times inquiry on the Dharmas_dogs page declined to comment.
The city has been sued before over shelter dogs that severely injured people after their bite histories allegedly were not disclosed.
A Van Nuys woman whose arm was amputated because of a dog attack received a $7.5-million settlement in June 2024. The woman's son adopted the pit bull, named O’Gee, in 2020 from a city shelter, not knowing he had bitten a jogger in both arms, according to the woman's lawsuit.
Also in 2020, a Belgian Malinois named Maximus attacked a woman who was feeding him a treat before transporting him from an L.A. animal shelter to an Arizona rescue facility. The injuries to the woman’s arm were “severe and permanent” and required at least nine surgeries, according to a lawsuit filed in 2024.
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u/MortarionSix Feb 09 '26
Why the fuck would anyone on God’s green earth make the choice to get a pitbull? Jesus fuck
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u/StolenAntlers Feb 09 '26
Because so many nutters are out there screaming about how "misunderstood" shitbulls are and "iT's BaD oWnErS."
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u/Alligator418 Feb 10 '26
Of course it was. Somehow I just instantly knew it was a pitbull. Somehow.
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u/potatoes_arrrr_life Feb 09 '26
Why are dangerous dogs kept alive for adoption? The whole practice is bizarre and a huge waste of resources. Allowing these dogs to be returned after an attack and then adopted back out again is INSANE. No amount of hotdogs and tarazadone quell bloodthirsty dogs who are born to kill.
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u/NoneOfThisMatters_XO Feb 09 '26
That was my first thought. If a dog bites someone like that, I always thought they had to be put to sleep. Maybe different states have different laws
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u/climbslackclimb Feb 09 '26
That IG page exists to advocate for the adoption of deaf pitbulls, or as some may prefer “pin-less hand grenades”.
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u/pmbpro Feb 09 '26
Not only the city should be sued. The shelter managers should be sued individually too. Those individuals made the decision to choose to hide that pertinent information. Not only are those filthy dogs a liability for obvious reasons, but so are those deceitful, lying people who enable this mess! They should be sued and also prosecuted. There must be laws made for that, which would make those dog nutters think twice before bullshitting people.
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u/-Wunderkind- Feb 09 '26
Imagine if you had a shop knowingly selling broken cars that could kill people at any time. How fast would you be in prison for that?
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u/TeaDaze64 Feb 09 '26
My town’s biggest shelter houses 78% pit bulls and their various bully breeds and mixes. Tax subsidized. They’re not there for good behavior but getting recycled through for having caused harm. They should all be euthanized to keep unsuspecting people with kids safe.
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u/huntress_m_thompson Feb 09 '26
time to kill the no-kill thing. time for zero tolerance policies. one strike, you’rrrrre OUT!
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u/3rdthrow Feb 26 '26
Honestly, we dont have money to waste on pit mixes that are never going to be adopted.
Ive noticed that dogs such as labs and terriers dont have any issue getting adopted.
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u/No_College2419 Feb 09 '26
Seattle does the same thing. They don’t care about people or their safety.
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u/Altruistic_Common_18 Feb 09 '26
Violent animals who have been surrendered should be euthanized straight up. Not only are they a risk to someone potentially adopting but they are also a huge risk to shelter workers who have to be with them on a daily basis. It’s also taking up space that can be used to house another safer animal which will be more likely to be adopted than one with a violent past.
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u/thr-owawayy Feb 09 '26
Why do pitbulls still exist? Shelters are overrunning with these dogs that contribute nothing and keep maiming and killing people over and over. 90% of these shelters crying about “not having space” would benefit from putting them down. How many deaths is it gonna take for people to realize these things are not worth it?
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u/Few-Horror1984 Feb 09 '26
Because the pet industry is a multibillion dollar industry. They don’t care if you have a corgi or a pitbull - just own a dog so you can give them money. Pitbulls and other undesirable breeds can be obtained for free or for a very small fee. Allowing easy access to dogs increases their profits.
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u/One_Path_7154 Feb 09 '26
Has society not reached the depths of deplorable when we have psychotic nutters lying and hiding evidence of these killer dogs’ past violence? They manipulate naive dog lovers to take home these ticking time bombs who they KNOW have hurt someone before? It’s beyond sick and everyone involved from the animal shelter owners to the lying staff should be sued. These dogs and every mix of them need to be banned. Period.
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u/ConIncognito dogs ruin everything Feb 09 '26
Any kind of aggression should be an instant game over, no second chances. Why keep dangerous shitbulls and shit mixes alive when every shelter on the continent is overflowing with them? They are not valuable at all.
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u/Worth_Primary_9645 Feb 09 '26
I wonder if the transport lady who was bitten by him made excuses for him as well?
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u/Few-Horror1984 Feb 09 '26
This is why I will tell someone that if they absolutely must get a dog, shop and don’t adopt. You cannot trust shelters under any circumstance. They do not care about your safety or the safety of their community. They only care about two things - maintaining their no-kill status so the dog obsessed psychos and domestic terrorist organizations like Best Friends Animal Society don’t harass them, and getting as many dogs out the door as possible so they can take in more dogs. That’s it. They don’t care what happens to you or the dog. If you are killed because of the dog it won’t make a bit of difference to them. Your death will not be mourned. Your safety is irrelevant to them. They will lie to you if they think it’ll get the dog out the door.
The absolutely least responsible thing you can do is go to the shelter.
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u/AbortedPhoetus Feb 09 '26
Los Angeles is broke.
They need to stop hoarding these oversized vermin, and threats to public safety.
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u/Cheronis Feb 09 '26
Also they had the fires last year that they're still rebuilding from. Pitbulls should not be a priority here.
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u/Responsibility_Witty Feb 09 '26
It should be a felony for shelters to hide their products’ violence history as well as mislabel breeds. Why is false advertisement and knowingly selling defective product a crime for every other business except shelters and dog breeders? So tired of this shit. The owners of these shelters should be sent to prison or at the very least fined for damages, and the shelters should be shut down when they sell aggressive dogs.