Dogs in Jeopardy Again as Payment Deadline Missed

The Jefferson couple fighting to keep their two 100-pound-plus dogs deemed "potentially dangerous" may again risk them being euthanized after missing the payment deadline on Tuesday.

Gary and Susan Kolb and the township agreed last month to put the case—that could put the dogs at risk for euthanization if the court ruled to forfeit them—on hold if they paid the costs the municipality has spent on housing the two African Boerbels. 

Linda Ackerson, Health Department registrar of vital statistics, said the Kolbs didn't make the first of two payments by Tuesday's deadline. 

Susan Kolb told Patch Wednesday that the payment was not made in time because her lawyer was unavailable in court all day. She said that she and her husband expect to make the payment Thursday.

Robert Dunn, Susan Kolb's attorey, did not immediately return a phone call to Patch on Wednesday.

The Kolbs were asked to pay half of the $12,000 it cost the township to house the dogs since October 2011, when they were taken from the Kolbs for violating a court order for allegedly walking the dogs without muzzles.

Prosecutor James LaSala said last month the "temporary postponent" deal could only stand if they made the payments on Nov. 27 and Jan. 27 on time.

However, LaSala said Wedneday that although the Kolbs missed the deadline, there is a chance he'll accept the money a few days late.

"If they were going to come up with the half by the end of the week, I'll probably reconsider," he said.

If they don't come up with the money, he said the case would move forward.

Once the case proceeds, if the Kolbs agree to forfeit the dogs, LaSala said he would find an out-of-state facility to house them. If the couple doesn't forfeit them, they could be killed.

LaSala said he and other township officials have checked more than a dozen facilities, none of which have agreed to take the dogs because of their history.

The dogs are accused of attacking three people near the Kolbs' previous home in Jersey City in 2008 and 2009, when they allegedly knocked over a woman who was holding a baby, and then allegedly bit two people in 2009.

The Kolbs had signed an agreement to sell the dogs to a buyer in Los Angeles but then refused to give up the animals and were held in contempt of court in 2010.

Once they moved to Jefferson, they were required by the state to follow several rules, including only walking the dogs with a muzzle.

The Kolbs are facing contempt of court charges for walking the dogs without muzzles and for failing to move the dogs from Jersey City to California. If convicted, they face up to 18 months in prison.