Ruling on ‘dangerous’ dog restored

By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Haddonfield Sun
A local dog was declared “potentially dangerous” by two appellate division judges, restoring an original ruling a municipal judge levied in 2007.
Rocky, a Rhodesian Ridgeback owned by local resident Robert Taffet, had a history of attacks on humans, with five incidents stemming back to October of 2002. The first incident involved another borough resident’s dog being attacked at Crows Woods by two of Taffet’s animals. The resident tried to pull the dogs away from his pet, and Rocky bit his right arm while the other dog bit his left arm.
Four children had incidents with Rocky after the October 2002 attack, according to court documents.
Rhodesian Ridgebacks, according to the American Kennel Club, were originally bred to hunt lions in South Africa and are also known as the African Lion Hound.
Based on these five complaints, Haddonfield’s animal control officer, Lisa Ricigliano, issued and served Taffet with two summonses for his four Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs in November of 2007. Of the four dogs, the judge only found Rocky to potentially dangerous and all other claims were dismissed.
See this week’s print edition of The SUn for the full story.