Feb. 11—The Nez Perce Tribal Police Department is cracking down on loose dogs after two dog attacks on children.

The dog attacks took place within days of each other at different locations in Lapwai. Both are considered serious attacks and one of the children was bitten on the face, causing serious injury. Tribal police have also seen an increase in reports of dogs being aggressive toward people as well as other animals, according to a news release Feb. 2 by the police department.

“These incidents should remind (us all) that dogs can be very dangerous when they become aggressive and especially dangerous when the victim is a child or children,” the news release stated.

Nez Perce Tribal Police Chief Mark Bensen said the aggressive dogs highlight the issue of loose dogs.

“Stray dogs usually start a pack mentality and that’s when things get dangerous, whether on the reservation or anywhere,” Bensen said.

The problem of aggressive dogs could be from dogs that have homes but are loose in the community or strays, and determining which category a dog belongs in can be a struggle for tribal police.

“We’re not sure,” Bensen said. “Of course they aren’t microchipped and it makes it difficult to see whose dog it actually is.”

The Nez Perce Tribe has a dog ordinance that regulates dogs within the reservation; the ordinance addresses the welfare of dogs owned by people and outlines the responsibilities in caring for the animals. Those regulations include people keeping dogs confined, on a leash or otherwise controlled. A dog owner also accepts civil liabilities and criminal penalties if their dog attacks and injures a person or animal, according to the news release.

The Nez Perce Tribal Police will be enforcing the ordinance and issuing citations for dogs that are at large. If a dog is impounded, the owner will have to pay shelter costs, according to the news release.

The news release also advised people to watch over children walking to and from school and report dogs that are acting aggressively to the police.

“Children should not have to fear dogs when walking in their own community,” the news release said.

The news release also stated that local shelters where tribal police take dogs are over capacity and not able to take additional dogs.

“They’re all at capacity,” Bensen said about local shelters taking dogs. “They work hard and they try, but you can only do so much.”

According to the Shelter Animals Count national database, an organization of agencies that monitors progress in animal welfare, animal shelters in the nation are entering their fourth year of having too many animals and less adoptions, especially with dogs.

There were 3.2 million dogs in shelters and rescues in 2023, an increase of 3.2% from 2022 and a 10.2% increase from 2021. Of those dogs entering animal shelters, 46% were strays, making the majority of dogs entering shelters as well as an additional 234,000 stray dogs compared to 2021.

Although 2.2 million dogs were adopted in 2023, dog adoptions are 5% lower than in 2019. During 2023, 3% more dogs entered shelters than left, creating an additional 107,000 dogs in shelters nationwide. In 2023, a total of 900,000 animals have remained in animal shelters around the U.S. since January 2021, according to Shelter Animals Count.

Previous reporting in the Tribune states that some of the causes in an increase in dogs at shelters are financial strain in the cost of a pet, a lack of pet-friendly housing in the area and a decrease in adoptions.

As of Friday, the Lewis Clark Animal Shelter had 22 dogs available for adoption, the Whitman County Humane Society had 13 dogs, the Humane Society of the Palouse has seven dogs for adoption and other organizations such as Helping Hands Rescue and the Idaho Animal Rescue Network also have dogs for adoption.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.