City police spokesperson Marie Lugli confirms that the service is currently investigating a complaint of death threats in the case of Dunaj, the Doberman facing a destruction order.
"It happened yesterday at 3:21," said Lugli referring to the complaint.
She added that it is police policy not to reveal the name of the person or organization laying the complaint.
In a news release this morning, the Health Unit said, "Due to witness safety and death threats received through social media, the (appeal) hearing will be conducted in writing and documents will not be available to the public. Death threats to the victim(s) have been reported to the North Bay Police Service. For that same reason, the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit has not disclosed the names of all victims to the public."
Meanwhile, one of four witnesses to the original incident in October is speaking out in defence of Dunaj after the Health Unit release today.
Tony Loeffen is also one of eight administrators of a website dedicated to the issue.
"I became involved with the Save Dunaj movement, because I was an eye witness that no one wanted to talk to, and I wanted the truth to be told," Loeffen told BayToday.
"I am staying in it, because the goal posts of truth are being moved on this poor dog.
"If the Health Unit cannot overcome several eye-witness accounts to the event that resulted in them taking Dunaj into custody and ordering him destroyed, it stands to reason he should not be destroyed and should be released from custody.
"Any effort to scare up allegations from the past is an effort to change the subject from whether or not Dunaj is guilty of the charge that resulted in him being ordered destroyed, to whether or not he is guilty of anything, ever. This is unreasonable.
"Every person who has respect for the truth should require proof before judgment is made, and any player on the field of truth should require stationary goal posts."
Loeffen has posted on the Save Dunaj Facebook page.
"We have chosen this as a means of addressing the new unsubstantiated and unproven allegations against Dunaj," he said.
See the statement here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Dunaj-the-Downtown-Doberman/467270553411538
Efforts by BayToday to speak with dog owner Rob Szalas have been unsuccessful.
Text of Loeffen's post appears below.
"One day, we were asked by several different people if Dunaj had a history of biting people. Here is the answer we gave them…
2 weeks ago, when I was in Timmins, a police officer pulled me over. He asked me if I had been drinking. I said that I had not been. He asked me if I would volunteer to do a breathlyzer. I said that I would have no problem doing that. I got out of my car and went to the cruiser. As he prepared the device, he asked me if I had ever done a breathalyzer before. I said that I had. I said that it was 20 years ago, and that I had failed.
I have a question for you, did that cop...
a) say gotcha and charge me with drunk driving on the spot based on the fact that I had been convicted of drunk driving in the past?
or...
b) did the cop proceed to give me the breathalyzer to see if I was drunk at the moment because my past guilt of a similar offence has nothing to do with whether he could charge me at that time?
See what I mean? Now that I have demonstrated how unfair and irrelevant your question is, the answer is NO.
Dunaj has never been guilty of biting someone, human or pet. He is a perfectly gentle dog. If this is not the case, then I suppose it will be up to someone else to prove it in court, in a fair process.
I was talking to an 84 year old woman today. She lives in an old age home about 3 blocks away from Rob's store. Her mobility isn't good, and she can't always get out to take a walk. But, when she is feeling good enough, this is what she does. She puts some dog treats in her purse and makes her way to Rob's store to see Dunaj. She has a nice visit with one of the sweetest dogs on the face of this earth. She makes the trip about once a week, and her visit with Dunaj is the highlight of her week.
This poor woman still makes this trip when she can, but now when she does, it is to console Rob. They have a good cry together because they miss Dunaj.
We make an effort to answer every question that is directed to this page, but there are some questions that we wish people could ask directly, face to face, to Dunaj's 84 year old friend. This is one of them.
If you want to know if Dunaj is guilty of any of these allegations, please stay tuned. Dunaj will be defended vigorously from any and all accusations – hopefully in a fair process.
Those who call him guilty and order his death before a fair trial need to show PROOF!"
Tony Loeffen
