Ugly’s Life Spared but Terms Aren’t Pretty

After 25 days of negotiation, Ugly the pit bullterrier was sprung from the Orange County Animal Shelter in a deal that spared his life but severely limited his freedom.

Ugly’s owner, Kyeli Beckmann of San Clemente, was freed of a requirement that she post a $100,000 bond.

But the settlement stipulated that Ugly must be kept in an enclosed area with a floor, walls and ceiling, tattooed and allowed in public only for medical treatment or a change of residency.

In those cases, he must be in a proper cage and muzzled, said San Clemente Assistant City Atty. Jeffrey Goldfarb.

The city has declared Ugly vicious.

Although Beckmann, speaking outside the county shelter in Orange, admitted that the terms did not give her dog much freedom, she said, “I would rather have him alive with me then dead here.”

Led to the shelter’s tattoo parlor on a chain, Ugly was obviously uncomfortable with the terms of release, trying to pull his muzzle off as Beckmann implored him to keep calm amid a tangle of television cameras.

Beckmann’s attorney, Wendy J. Park, said she had pushed for a butterfly tattoo or “something nice,” but instead, Ugly was tattooed with identification numbers that will be kept in San Clemente records.

Goldfarb predicted that he does not expect any more trouble from Ugly, who had scaled two six-foot fences at the San Clemente Animal Shelter and attacked and killed a stray sheep dog being kept there. The pit bull had been impounded the day before by animal control officers who found Ugly and Beckmann’s other dog, Skinny, chained to the back of her truck and allegedly behaving aggressively.

“Both sides came away with what was important to them,” Goldfarb said. “She got her dog back, and we got protection for the public.”

Park said she had contended during negotiations that the city’s dog control ordinance did not allow officials to require the $100,000 bond or liability insurance that they had sought originally.

The ordinance gives officials permission to require any measure that would control a vicious dog, but Park said putting a price on the dog was a restriction of ownership, not a control.

Goldfarb said he allowed the bond to be waived in exchange for the restrictions on Ugly’s freedom. The bond had been sought to cover any liability that might result from another attack by the dog.

“If we could prevent the dog from biting at all, we’re one better still,” he said. “The reason we got rid of the bond is purely and simply because we could.”

Park said the cost of Ugly’s freedom was $112.50 in daily shelter fees and another $27.50 for shots and medical care.

Beckmann, who was preparing to move to New Mexico when the Ugly saga began, said she will leave California this week. Because of financial difficulties from legal fees, Beckmann said, her first stop now will be Arizona.

Park and Goldfarb said the agreement would be binding outside California, but Beckmann hinted that she did not expect enforcement to be too tough.

“Basically, they wanted me out of the state,” she said. For now, Ugly has gone from one 3-by-6-foot Orange County shelter cell to a 5-by-15-foot run at the home of one of Beckmann’s friends until she can pack her belongings and leave.