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Dog kills cub; owner charged

The owner of a Rottweiler that authorities say killed a black bear cub this week will face charges brought by the New Jersey SPCA. But the owner says the dog was merely defending her.

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. - The owner of a Rottweiler that authorities say killed a black bear cub this week will face charges brought by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Matt Stanton, an NJSPCA spokesman, said Wednesday that Teri Daubner of Jefferson Township faces two counts of failure to provide proper shelter for her dog and two counts of causing the death of an animal.

The first counts are criminal charges, Stanton said, and the second counts are civil charges filed on behalf of the animal. The charges carry a term of up to six months in jail and a maximum fine of $2,000.

Daubner's dog, Max, was in an outdoor kennel but got out when the cub wandered onto the property Tuesday. Daubner had built the pen in July after the 5-year-old Rottweiler caused the death of a neighborhood dog.

Daubner said she was getting water for Max on Tuesday when he got out of his pen and ran to the front of her property where the bear cub had wandered onto the driveway.

"He is a family pet, and he was doing what dogs do to protect their owners," she said told the Daily Record of Parsippany on Tuesday.

Daubner said the bear's mother came into the yard and dragged the cub's body back into the woods about two hours later.