DOWNS - Karen Bohannon's Sunday afternoon walk with her Shih Tzu taught her a complicated lesson about the legal differences between city and country living.

It began when a neighbor's dog charged the woman and her small-breed dog on the gravel road in her Old Town Township neighborhood outside of Downs.

"I let out a scream and before I could reach down for him, the pit bull was shaking him by his neck," said Bohannon.

She tried to pull the larger dog off her pet, but failed, she said. Armed with pepper spray, she eventually forced the dog back.

Though Bohannon escaped serious injury, her little dog Toby was bleeding badly, she said.

She watched as the neighbor called his dog into the home. Then, Bohannon got to her feet, rushed Toby home and called an emergency veterinary service. When the vet determined the dog was stable, she directed Bohannon to report the incident before seeking further treatment.

That's where Bohannon found herself winding through the confusing subtleties differentiating pet laws for cities, unincorporated subdivisions and rural Illinois.

"I didn't realize that if I live in the county, but not in Bloomington or Normal, I'm not afforded the same rights about vicious dogs," she said.

A McLean County sheriff's deputy, who responded to her home in the unincorporated subdivision, spoke to her about her dog's injuries.

If the attacking dog still was running loose, the deputy could intervene, Bohannon said. However, the dog was beyond his control in this case because it had retreated to private property.

"In Bloomington or Normal, because of home rule (expanded municipal authority allowed to larger Illinois communities), the police would summarily seize an animal in an instant like that," said McLean County Assistant State's Attorney Eric Ruud. However, state law doesn't allow the county's police to do the same, unless a person was bitten, he said.

The sheriff's deputy advised Bohannon to call McLean County Animal Control on Monday.

However, that morning animal control authorities told her they couldn't take the pit bull. She'd need to file a complaint first and go through an investigative process.

The report filed Sunday with the sheriff's department noted Bohannon's dog was bitten, but that she herself had not been, said Sgt. John Sandage, of the McLean County Sheriff's Department.

During multiple conversations about the matter Monday, county authorities later learned Bohannon's leg was scratched during the altercation - that skin was broken. At that news, animal control staff traveled to the Downs address and seized the dog, with cooperation of the dog's owner.

"Once that human contact was determined, how we responded changed," said Bree Davis, spokeswoman for the McLean County Health Department, which oversees animal control.

The dog will stay at the shelter 10 days for observation, and won't be released until its vaccinations are up to date, she said.

Davis said the Illinois Department of Public Health will look at a number of factors in Monday's report and recommend whether Bohannon needs a rabies prevention treatment.

---

Rules differ

In McLean County, when any animal bites or scratches a person, authorities can seize the animal immediately under a statewide "bite law." However, if an animal bites another animal or if the animal merely threatens a person, the bite law doesn't apply. In those cases the "leash laws" apply, and those vary as follows.

- Within a home-rule community (a city with 25,000 people), local authorities may seize an animal from private or public property.

- Within an unincorporated, subdivided area of the county, McLean County authorities can seize companion animals only if they are not on the pet owner's property.

- In unincorporated rural areas, only strays can be seized.

In the last two cases, complaints first must be filed with the state's attorney's office. Then, an investigation begins and several factors are presented to a judge before a decision is made on whether to seize the animal.

SOURCES: McLean County state's attorney's office; McLean County Health Department

Compiled by Michele Steinbacher