The City’s investigation into a dangerous Rottweiler that severely bit two people within a few months is expected to wrap up and go to lawyers next week.

City bylaw services supervisor John Ramsay said Friday that legal counsel is being sought to determine the best course of action in dealing with the owner of Midnight, a Rottweiler that left a postal carrier’s arm with bone-deep puncture wounds in June and an 84-year-old woman’s arm requiring 98 stitches a week ago.

“We’re trying to make sure we do what’s best for the community as a whole and public safety,” he said.

“I don’t want to rush the investigation to close it quickly.”

Midnight was taken to the City pound after she bit deeply into a postal carrier’s arm on June 1. She was deemed a dangerous dog, which meant her owner had to buy a $200 licence, extra house insurance to cover the dog’s actions, build a pen in the yard to keep her in and muzzle her when she was in public on a leash.

Ramsay said the owner couldn’t build the pen because he was living in a rented property. But as he frequently works out of town and has another residence in Calgary, he promised to take the dog away.

Midnight wasn’t supposed to be in Kamloops on Sept. 2 when she was left by a friend of her owner, on a leash, supposedly tied up in the North Shore McDonald’s parking lot. When an elderly couple walked past, deliberately skirting the big dog, Midnight went after the woman and ripped her arm open.

The dog was surrendered by her owner and euthanized Thursday.

Ramsay said the owner could face fines and/or be taken to court for other conditions. The court could implement other penalties such as a ban on owning another dog, he said, as an example.

The dog’s owner was new to Kamloops and had only been here a few weeks when the first attack occurred, he said. The man does not own other dogs as far as Ramsay knows.

“I went to the home the other day to talk to him about surrendering the dog and saw no evidence of another dog there. It’s a small enough place I’d have heard it.”