A Dane County judge today sealed the fate of a 130-pound bull mastiff that mauled a terrier last summer at a Middleton dog park.

Igor, who caused the death on Aug. 12 of Lily, a 13-pound Bedlington terrier, will be euthanized, Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas ruled after listening to three hours of testimony.

Igor's owner, Gary Lohrke, stormed out of the courtroom moments later, before the hearing was adjourned, after telling Colas that he could not afford to pay any of the cost of keeping the dog for the past 100 days at the Dane County Humane Society as Colas also ordered.

Terry Browne, a longtime friend of Lohrke who was at the park with Lohrke when Igor attacked the terrier, also left the courtroom shouting at Colas.

"Murderer! Killer!" Browne said as he left.

Lohrke and his attorney, Frank Medina, had asked that Colas allow the dog to be rehabilitated instead of euthanized, even though Lohrke would never own the dog again.

"We don't have capital punishment for people," Medina said. "Why do we have it for the dog, when it has a chance?"

The city of Middleton asked the court for an order to euthanize Igor. The attack on Lily, who belonged to Shirley Fulton, of Middleton, was the third attack involving Igor. The terrier had to be euthanized because of its injuries.

On Aug. 13, 2006, Michelle Ouellette testified, she was walking on a sidewalk past the Lohrke's home on Hubbard Avenue when Igor attacked her without provocation.

She testified that she received deep puncture wounds to her leg and missed two days of work while being treated. She still has scars.

On March 8, 2007, Igor attacked a dog owned by Sandra Giesen while she walked it on a sidewalk.
 
A fourth attack occurred more recently at the Humane Society, while Igor was being evaluated by David Burns, a dog rehabilitator and trainer.

Humane Society canine behavior coordinator Joan Byrne testified that Igor was lying on the floor, with Burns holding his leash, when she opened a door.

That caused Igor to jump up and bite Byrne on the knee. The bite did not draw blood but left her with bruises, she said.

Testifying later, Burns said he was concerned about that attack, which he said showed that Igor had not been properly socialized and was uncomfortable around strangers. Burns said it was also concerning to him that Igor had attacked Lily, a female dog, when male dogs generally do not try to kill females.

Still, Burns said, he could correct Igor's behavior through a six-point training course, but only if Lohrke gave up the dog to Sauk Prairie Small Animal Hospital, where he works, and only if there was a place for Igor to go when the course was over.

Colas rejected that idea. The cost of the training, between $2,000 and $5,000, with no definite funding source to cover the cost, should not be carried by taxpayers, he said.

But Lohrke, he said, should be responsible for half of the $1,500 cost for keeping Igor at the Humane Society and other costs.

Lohrke, who receives Social Security disability payments for a mental health disability, said he couldn't afford to pay anything, especially when it involves what he claimed was bad care for Igor at the Humane Society.

"I'm not going to pay it, so you might as well lock me up," Lohrke said after Colas told him he could be held in contempt of court for failing to pay.