Owner of dogs that fatally attacked Calgary woman served 15-year pet ban, fine

A Calgary man has been banned from owning animals for the next 15 years and is set to pay thousands in fines following a 2022 dog attack that left an elderly woman dead. Jillian Code reports.

A Calgary dog owner will pay a $15,000 fine and is banned from owning a pet for 15 years for a 2022 attack that led to the death of an 86-year-old woman.

Denis Bagaric plead guilty to two city bylaw charges, admitting to one count of an animal attacking a person causing severe injury and one count of animals running at large.

He was sentenced in a Calgary court room Monday.

Betty Ann Williams, known as ‘Rusty’ to those who knew and loved her, was gardening in the alley of her Capitol Hill home in June 2022 when she was mauled by three dogs.



She waited 30 minutes for an ambulance to take her to the hospital, where she later died of her injuries.

Williams’ death sparked a flurry of criticism for Alberta Health Services (AHS), which later admitted the call was deemed non-life threatening and “categorized for police response” which slowed the arrival of an ambulance.

The Crown was seeking a $15,000 fine and a 10-to-15-year prohibition on owning animals.

Bagaric has agreed to have one of the dogs euthanized, but at last word said he was planning to fight to keep the other two at an upcoming hearing.

He declined an interview following the sentencing, but told CityNews he felt the system is “gross.”

The Calgary Humane Society tells CityNews the attack was tragic, unfortunate and could have been preventable with proper training.

The organization says they are still seeing an unusually high amount of pet surrenders, because many dog owners seem to be in over their heads.

-With files from The Canadian Press

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