After biting 2 children, Rhodesian ridgeback dog in Haddonfield is euthanized

Duke is dead.

After biting at least two children - the latest one shortly before Easter in Camden County - the prize-winning Rhodesian Ridgeback was euthanized Friday.

The African hunting dog belonged to Haddonfield surgeon Robert Taffet and had been labeled "potentially dangerous" in Salem County, N.J., where the doctor has a goat farm.

Taffet voluntarily had Duke put down Friday afternoon while a Haddonfield police officer witnessed the procedure, borough officials said.

Taffet declined to comment, saying only, "I'd appreciate being left alone."

Duke allegedly bit a girl inside Taffet's Upland Way home about 10 p.m. April 19. The victim was treated for puncture wounds on the shoulder.

Haddonfield authorities who were investigating that incident said they thought the dog was being kept at Taffet's farm in Alloway Township, Salem County.

Duke bit off a 3-year-old girl's ear there in 2009 and was classified by a Pilesgrove Municipal Court judge as "potentially dangerous" but not "vicious."

The "vicious" label requires owners to muzzle their dogs in public, and build a fenced-in area for them and post warning signs.

The Salem County victim, Claire McVeigh, now 5, has undergone three surgeries to re-attach her ear and reconstruct it using cartilage from her ribs.

"My daughter is a trouper," said her father, Dennis McVeigh, 31. "She'll be all right."

Standing outside Haddonfield Borough Hall Friday, he and his lawyers, Randy Greene and John Brinkmann, said they plan to file a lawsuit against Taffet.

They said the doctor has owned a few Rhodesian Ridgebacks - including Duke - that were involved in four biting incidents between 2000 and 2004 before the attack on Claire McVeigh.

"History is an indicator of what will happen in the future," said Dennis McVeigh. "There is a history of disobedience of court orders and people being hurt."

After the attack on his daughter, McVeigh said, "The dog was supposed to be muzzled." Had it been, the April 19 attack would not have happened, he said.

Haddonfield Solicitor Mario Iavicoli said Friday that Taffet had the right to bring Duke to Haddonfield from Alloway Township, where the dog was licensed. But he said the dog was supposed to be muzzled when outside the fenced compound.

"We're frustrated and sad," added McVeigh as he stood with wife Cindi, 33. "We knew it would happen again."

Hearing news of the dog's euthanization, he said, "we're relieved that action is being taken so this won't happen again."

"I would have liked to see the dog put down after Claire was attacked," said Cindi McVeigh.