One of the biggest challenges in dog bite cases is positively identifying the owner of the dog.
If a dog bite occurs while inside someone’s home or on that person’s property, the problem becomes much easier to solve.
But when the dog bite occurs in a park – such as what happened to a jogger recently, according to Cathy Locke reporting for the Sacramento Bee – the dog bite case gets complicated.
The jogger was on a bike path, heading past a woman walking her dog, when the dog “lunged” and bit the jogger, causing what was described as “moderate” injury. The jogger made the mistake of not getting any identification from the dog owner, so that she could follow up; rather, the jogger took the woman’s word that her dog was current on rabies vaccinations.
While that may very well be true, post-exposure rabies treatment is recommended in Category III cases, which consist of “transdermal bites or scratches,” according to the World Health Organization.
Certainly this case falls under Category III.
Without knowing with certainty whether or not the dog was current on its rabies vaccinations, the bit jogger will have to undergo post-exposure rabies treatment.
Source: Authorities seek dog that bit jogger